Earth Radiation area average time series through Wide-field-of-view nonscanner aboard Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Edition 4

Understanding the mean and variability of the Earth’s radiation budget (ERB) at the Top-of-Atmosphere (TOA) and surface is a fundamental quantity governing climate variability and, for that reason, NASA has been making concerted efforts to observe the ERB since1984 through two projects: ERBE and CERES, that span nearly 30 years to date. The proposed project utilizes knowledge gained in the last 10 years through CERES data analyses and apply the knowledge to existing data to develop long-term (nearly 30 years) consistent and calibrated data product (TOA irradiances at the same radiometric scale) from multiple missions (ERBS and CERES).

This project proposes to produce level 3 surface irradiance products that are consistent with observed TOA irradiances in a framework of 1D radiative transfer theory. Based on these TOA and surface irradiance products, a data product will be developed which contains the contribution of atmospheric and cloud property variability to TOA and surface irradiance variability. All algorithms used in the process are based on existing CERES algorithms.