ISLSCP II ERBE Monthly Clear-Sky Albedo 1986-1990

Global top-of-atmosphere clear-sky albedo data from January 1986 to February 1990 is provided in this dataset. It contains both the original Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) data at 2.5-degree resolution and an ISLSCP Initiative II regridded product at 1-degree resolution. The data was produced by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center Biogeochemical Dynamics group to support climate model development and change detection.

Use Cases

• Validating and calibrating climate model simulations of Earth's shortwave radiation budget using the global albedo values.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in clear-sky planetary albedo over the 1986-1990 period.
• Establishing a baseline for detecting anthropogenic climate change signals in reflected shortwave radiation.
• Comparing albedo measurements from different satellite instruments by using the standardized 1-degree gridded product.

Strengths

• Provides a 50-month continuous global record from 1986-1990, offering a multi-year baseline for climate studies.
• Includes data at two spatial resolutions (2.5-degree original and 1-degree regridded), allowing for analysis flexibility.
• Focuses on clear-sky conditions, isolating the surface and atmospheric reflectance component from cloud effects.

Limitations

• Key metadata such as row count, file size, and specific column names are unavailable across all sources.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, with one listing 1990-02-01 and others listing 2026-03-13.
• The license is ambiguously listed as 'other-license-specified' without further details.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD (Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center Biogeochemical Dynamics)

Collection Method

Derived from measurements of broadband shortwave radiation reflected from the Earth-atmosphere system by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE).

Time Range

January 1986 to February 1990

Freshness

2026-03-13 01:24:44.480545

Geography

Global