############################################################################## # ISLSCP II Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) Radiation Data # ############################################################################## These data are global, gridded surface and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation data at monthly, monthly-3-hourly (i.e. mean diurnal cycle), and 3- hourly temporal resolutions, and monthly cloud and meteorological parameter data on a 1 degree Earth grid and covering the period 1986-1995 (NOTE***: The last two months of 1995 are not available). The parameters include downward, upward, and net Shortwave (SW) and Longwave (LW) surface radiative fluxes (See below for complete listing of parameters). All monthly and monthly 3-hourly parameters except TOA insolation include files with a monthly mean value, a monthly standard deviation, and monthly minimum and maximum values. Users should always consult the data set documentation for more information on data processing methods and issues. Please report any problems with this data set to Eric Brown de Colstoun at ericbdc@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov or David Landis at David.R.Landis@gsfc.nasa.gov ############################################################################## File Naming Convention -------------------- There are 30 compressed m(.zip) files in this data set. All files are named using the following naming convention: srb_variable_1d_YYYYMMDD_hHH.asc where srb is short for "Surface Radiation Budget". variable this is the variable name (See below for listing). The variable name can also include "_av" for mean, "_sd" for standard deviation, "_mn" for minimum, "_mx" for maximum data, or "_in" for instantaneous data. 1d This identifies the spatial resolution of the data: "1d" for 1-degree in both latitude and longitude. YYYY 4-digit year from 1986 to 1995. MM 2-digit month from 01 to 12. DD 2-digit day. A value of 00 means that the file is a monthly average. HH 2-digit hour (GMT) from 03 to 24 represents the time stamp corresponding to the parameter estimates. NOTE***: A value of 24 represents midnight of the current day, or hour 00 of the next day. The hour 00 is not used here for consistency with other ISLSCP2 data sets. ############################################################################## ASCII File Format ------------------ All of the files in the ISLSCP Initiative II data collection are in the ASCII, or text format. The file format consists of numerical fields which are arranged in columns and rows. The files in these data sets all contain 360 columns by 180 rows. All values are written as real numbers using a scientific notation (i.e. _x.xxxxE_xx). All fields are exactly 11 characters wide and have five significant digits. NOTE***: Using this notation there can be more than one empty space between each field. All files are gridded to a common equal-angle lat/long grid with a spatial resolution of 1 degree lat/long, where the coordinates of the upper left corner of the files are located at 180 degrees W, 90 degrees N and the lower right corner coordinates are located at 180 degrees E, 90 degrees S. Data in the files are ordered from North to South and from West to East beginning at 180 degrees West and 90 degrees North. ############################################################################## Parameter Listing ----------------- The following is a listing of all the parameters included in this data set. All fluxes are in units of Watts per square meter. The 'File Types' column indicates the temporal resolution of the data for any particular parameter. The values in parentheses in the 'File Types' column indicate whether the mean ("av"), standard deviation ("sd"), maximum ("mx"), minimum ("mn") or instantaneous ("in") values are included for the particular parameter. Net total flux is: net sw + net lw Variable Description (Units) File Types -------- ------------------- ---------- calb clear-sky surface albedo (unitless) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) cdsf clear-sky downward sw flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) dif all-sky diffuse sw flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) dlf all-sky downward lw flux 3hourly (in) diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) dsf all-sky downward sw flux 3hourly (in) diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) nlf all-sky net lw flux 3hourly (in) diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) nsf all-sky net sw flux 3hourly (in) diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) ntf all-sky net total flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) par all-sky par flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) sfal all-sky surface albedo (unitless) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) tin toa insolation diurnal (av) monthly (av) trsf toa reflected sw flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) ulf surface upward lw flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) usf surface upward sw flux diurnal (av,sd,mx,mn) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) cldamt total cloud amount (%) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) cldtopp cloud-top pressure (hPa) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) cldtopt cloud-top temperature (degrees K) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) cwv column water vapor (g/cm2) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) ozone column ozone (dobson units) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) skint surface skin temperature (degrees K) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) tau cloud optical depth (unitless) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) water cloud liquid water path (g/m2) monthly (av,sd,mx,mn) av - File contains the mean (average) values sd - File contains the standard deviation values mx - File contains the maximum values mn - File contains the minimum values in - File contains instantaneous values (i.e. 3-hourly)