Assessment of GEWEX/SRB version 3.0 monthly global radiation dataset over China

NASA/GEWEX (National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) has released its latest radiation dataset, version 3.0. We examine the accuracy of the monthly mean global radiation in China using surface-observed radiation (SOR) data at 42 stations during the period 1984–2004. Overall comparison shows a general overestimation of satellite retrieval radiation data with a bias of 14.6 W m−2 and a root mean square error of 25.9 W m−2. Differences at individual stations suggested satellite data are consistently higher than surface measurements over eastern China (110°E), but occasional underestimation occurs in Western China, especially Southwest China. Intra-annual variation analysis indicates that SRB satellite radiation can capture the annual cycle well. For trend of global radiations, there are evident discrepancies between satellite retrievals and surface measurements for both the entire period and segmental terms. For the entire period from 1984 to 2004, most stations show a positive trend based on surface measurements, while the majority of collocated pixels show a negative trend. Segmental trends demonstrated that the principal difference occurred during the first period of 1981–1994. After 1994, the two datasets change similarly. Therefore, trend analysis in terms of detecting global dimming/brightening remains very difficult as surface measurements and satellite products do not agree yet. In addition, some proposals are made towards better understanding of the bias of satellite products and to improve further the satellite retrieval algorithm with better representation of both cloud and aerosol properties.

[1]  Gary G. Gibson,et al.  A Climatology of Surface Radiation Budget Derived from Satellite Data , 1999 .

[2]  R. Pinker,et al.  Modeling Surface Solar Irradiance for Satellite Applications on a Global Scale , 1992 .

[3]  Rachel T. Pinker,et al.  Satellite estimates of surface radiative fluxes for the extended San Pedro Basin: sensitivity to aerosols , 2000 .

[4]  Nancy A. Ritchey,et al.  Seasonal variation of surface radiation budget derived from International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project C1 data , 1992 .

[5]  Martin Wild,et al.  Validation of general circulation model radiative fluxes using surface observations , 1995 .

[6]  C. H. Whitlock,et al.  Assessment of the global monthly mean surface insolation estimated from satellite measurements using global energy balance archive data , 1995 .

[7]  Xiangao Xia,et al.  Long-term trends in solar radiation and the associated climatic factors over China for 1961-2000 , 2005 .

[8]  J. Key,et al.  Expected uncertainty in satellite-derived estimates of the surface radiation budget at high latitudes , 1997 .

[9]  Xiangao Xia,et al.  Analysis of downwelling surface solar radiation in China from National Centers for Environmental Prediction reanalysis, satellite estimates, and surface observations , 2006 .

[10]  Huizheng Che,et al.  Analysis of sky conditions using 40 year records of solar radiation data in China , 2007 .

[11]  Zhanqing Li,et al.  Global climatologies of solar radiation budgets at the surface and in the atmosphere from 5 years of ERBE data , 1993 .

[12]  Maria Stella Chiacchio,et al.  The WCRP/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Project Release 2: An Assessment of Surface Fluxes at 1 Degree Resolution , 2000 .

[13]  Martin Wild,et al.  Trends in aerosol radiative effects over China and Japan inferred from observed cloud cover, solar “dimming,” and solar “brightening” , 2009 .

[14]  Rachel T. Pinker,et al.  Toward improved satellite estimates of short‐wave radiative fluxes—Focus on cloud detection over snow: 1. Methodology , 2007 .

[15]  Donald R. Cahoon,et al.  Impact of biomass burning in equatorial Africa on the downward surface shortwave irradiance: Observations versus calculations , 1996 .

[16]  Y. Qian,et al.  More frequent cloud‐free sky and less surface solar radiation in China from 1955 to 2000 , 2005 .

[17]  Bruce A. Wielicki,et al.  Surface insolation trends from satellite and ground measurements: Comparisons and challenges , 2009 .

[18]  Yaoming Ma,et al.  Evaluation of satellite estimates of downward shortwave radiation over the Tibetan Plateau , 2008 .

[19]  C. Long,et al.  From Dimming to Brightening: Decadal Changes in Solar Radiation at Earth's Surface , 2005, Science.

[20]  J. T. Suttles,et al.  Surface radiation budget for climate applications , 1986 .

[21]  E. Dutton,et al.  Do Satellites Detect Trends in Surface Solar Radiation? , 2004, Science.

[22]  J. A. Hartigan,et al.  A k-means clustering algorithm , 1979 .

[23]  Despina Hatzidimitriou,et al.  Global distribution of Earth's surface shortwave radiation budget , 2005, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

[24]  Louis Moreau,et al.  On solar energy disposition : A perspective from observation and modeling , 1997 .

[25]  Brett C. Bush,et al.  Characterization of Thermal Effects in Pyranometers: A Data Correction Algorithm for Improved Measurement of Surface Insolation , 2000 .

[26]  A. Evan,et al.  Arguments against a physical long‐term trend in global ISCCP cloud amounts , 2007 .

[27]  Biao Wang,et al.  Data Quality Assessment and the Long-Term Trend of Ground Solar Radiation in China , 2008 .

[28]  Validation of a Physical Retrieval Scheme of Solar Surface Irradiances from Narrowband Satellite Radiances , 2005 .