ISLSCP II: Monthly Snow-free Surface Albedo from AVHRR

Global monthly climatology of broadband surface albedos derived from AVHRR data. The dataset provides snow-free, clear-sky albedo values for overhead sun illumination, calculated from a five-year period spanning April 1985 to March 1991. It is designed for compatibility with numerical weather prediction models and other land surface climatologies.

Use Cases

• Initializing and validating global numerical weather prediction models based on the monthly climatology of surface albedo.
• Studying land surface radiative properties and energy balance using the clear-sky, snow-free albedo values.
• Comparing land/water mask definitions by analyzing the provided difference files with the ISLSCP Initiative II mask.
• Integrating with vegetation fraction climatologies for coupled land-atmosphere modeling, given the stated compatibility in temporal and spatial resolution.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent, multi-year climatology (5 years) for model initialization.
• Designed for direct operational use at a major forecasting center (NCEP).
• Includes ancillary data (land/water mask difference files) for transparency and comparison.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; specific column names, file sizes, and row counts are not provided.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (1991 vs. 2026) create uncertainty about the provenance of the hosted metadata.
• The data is historical, with the source observation period ending in March 1991.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) satellite data.

Time Range

April 1985 to December 1987 and January 1989 to March 1991

Freshness

1991-03-31 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Global