Improved diurnal interpolation of the earth radiation budget observations using ISCCP data

The Earth radiation budget experiment (ERBE) was developed to provide a complete temporal and spatial coverage of the solar reflected and Earth emitted radiation. ERB measurements were resumed in 1994 by the Scanner for Radiation Budget (ScaRaB) mission on a single sateffite. Due to sparse temporal sampling, diurnal variations must be accounted for in order to establish accurate unbiased daily and monthly mean radiant exitance. When the ERBE diurnal interpolation algorithm is used alone, large discrepancies are shown between monthly mean radiative flux of single and multi-sateffite measurements. We extend the algorithm by accounting for diurnally varying cloud cover and thickness using ISCCP data. Significant improvements are found in regions where clouds have a pronounced diurnal cycle.