Evaluation of the Reanalysis Surface Incident Shortwave Radiation Products from NCEP, ECMWF, GSFC, and JMA Using Satellite and Surface Observations

Solar radiation incident at the Earth’s surface (Rs) is an essential component of the total energy exchange between the atmosphere and the surface. Reanalysis data have been widely used, but a comprehensive validation using surface measurements is still highly needed. In this study, we evaluated the Rs estimates from six current representative global reanalyses (NCEP–NCAR, NCEP-DOE; CFSR; ERA-Interim; MERRA; and JRA-55) using surface measurements from different observation networks [GEBA; BSRN; GC-NET; Buoy; and CMA] (674 sites in total) and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) EBAF product from 2001 to 2009. The global mean biases between the reanalysis Rs and surface measurements at all sites ranged from 11.25 W/m2 to 49.80 W/m2. Comparing with the CERES-EBAF Rs product, all the reanalyses overestimate Rs, except for ERA-Interim, with the biases ranging from −2.98 W/m2 to 21.97 W/m2 over the globe. It was also found that the biases of cloud fraction (CF) in the reanalyses caused the overestimation of Rs. After removing the averaged bias of CERES-EBAF, weighted by the area of the latitudinal band, a global annual mean Rs values of 184.6 W/m2, 180.0 W/m2, and 182.9 W/m2 were obtained over land, ocean, and the globe, respectively.

[1]  Jie He,et al.  Solar radiation trend across China in recent decades: a revisit with quality-controlled data , 2010 .

[2]  Mei Zhao,et al.  Comparison of ERA40 and NCEP/DOE near‐surface data sets with other ISLSCP‐II data sets , 2006 .

[3]  Xiaotong Zhang,et al.  Analysis of surface incident shortwave radiation from four satellite products , 2015 .

[4]  J. Hansen,et al.  A parameterization for the absorption of solar radiation in the earth's atmosphere , 1974 .

[5]  Flurin Babst,et al.  Verification of NCEP Reanalysis Shortwave Radiation With Mesoscale Remote Sensing Data , 2008, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[6]  Hongliang Fang,et al.  Estimation of incident photosynthetically active radiation from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer data , 2006 .

[7]  C. Kobayashi,et al.  The JRA-55 Reanalysis: General Specifications and Basic Characteristics , 2015 .

[8]  M. Chou,et al.  A Solar Radiation Model for Use in Climate Studies , 1992 .

[9]  K. Trenberth,et al.  Tracking Earth’s Energy: From El Niño to Global Warming , 2012, Surveys in Geophysics.

[10]  Jun Qin,et al.  Quality control and estimation of global solar radiation in China , 2010 .

[11]  Xiquan Dong,et al.  Evaluation and intercomparison of clouds, precipitation, and radiation budgets in recent reanalyses using satellite-surface observations , 2016, Climate Dynamics.

[12]  M. Wild,et al.  Decadal variation of surface solar radiation in the Tibetan Plateau from observations, reanalysis and model simulations , 2012, Climate Dynamics.

[13]  A. Lacis,et al.  Calculation of radiative fluxes from the surface to top of atmosphere based on ISCCP and other global data sets: Refinements of the radiative transfer model and the input data , 2004 .

[14]  Aaron A. Berg,et al.  Impact of bias correction to reanalysis products on simulations of North American soil moisture and hydrological fluxes , 2003 .

[15]  A. Sterl,et al.  The ERA‐40 re‐analysis , 2005 .

[16]  D. Lettenmaier,et al.  A Long-Term Hydrologically Based Dataset of Land Surface Fluxes and States for the Conterminous United States* , 2002 .

[17]  R. Dickinson,et al.  Global atmospheric downward longwave radiation at the surface from ground‐based observations, satellite retrievals, and reanalyses , 2013 .

[18]  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 .

[19]  Xiaotong Zhang,et al.  Generating Global LAnd Surface Satellite incident shortwave radiation and photosynthetically active radiation products from multiple satellite data , 2014 .

[20]  M. Wild,et al.  Spatial representativeness of ground‐based solar radiation measurements , 2013 .

[21]  Xubin Zeng,et al.  Evaluation of multireanalysis products with in situ observations over the Tibetan Plateau , 2012 .

[22]  K. Moffett,et al.  Remote Sens , 2015 .

[23]  Eric F. Wood,et al.  Comparison and evaluation of gridded radiation products across northern Eurasia , 2009 .

[24]  T. Andrews,et al.  An update on Earth's energy balance in light of the latest global observations , 2012 .

[25]  S. Seneviratne,et al.  The energy balance over land and oceans: an assessment based on direct observations and CMIP5 climate models , 2015, Climate Dynamics.

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

[27]  Max J. Suarez,et al.  A Solar Radiation Parameterization for Atmospheric Studies , 2013 .

[28]  M. Kanamitsu,et al.  NCEP–DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2) , 2002 .

[29]  M. Ringer,et al.  Simulation of the Earth's radiation budget by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-year reanalysis (ERA40) , 2004 .

[30]  S. Bony,et al.  Comparison and Satellite Assessment of NASA/DAO and NCEP–NCAR Reanalyses over Tropical Ocean: Atmospheric Hydrology and Radiation , 1997 .

[31]  Chang-Hoi Ho,et al.  Parameterizations for Cloud Overlapping and Shortwave Single-Scattering Properties for Use in General Circulation and Cloud Ensemble Models , 1998 .

[32]  Kevin E. Trenberth,et al.  Evaluation of the atmospheric moisture and hydrological cycle in the NCEP/NCAR reanalyses , 1998 .

[33]  N. Loeb,et al.  Surface Irradiances Consistent With CERES-Derived Top-of-Atmosphere Shortwave and Longwave Irradiances , 2013 .

[34]  Kyu-Tae Lee,et al.  Parameterizations for the Absorption of Solar Radiation by Water Vapor and Ozone , 1996 .

[35]  Xiquan Dong,et al.  Evaluation and Intercomparison of Cloud Fraction and Radiative Fluxes in Recent Reanalyses over the Arctic Using BSRN Surface Observations , 2012 .

[36]  M. Bosilovich,et al.  Evaluation of the Reanalysis Products from GSFC, NCEP, and ECMWF Using Flux Tower Observations , 2012 .

[37]  E. Wood,et al.  Development of a 50-Year High-Resolution Global Dataset of Meteorological Forcings for Land Surface Modeling , 2006 .

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

[39]  C. Schär,et al.  The global energy balance from a surface perspective , 2013, Climate Dynamics.

[40]  Michael G. Bosilovich,et al.  Intercomparison of water and energy budgets for five Mississippi subbasins between ECMWF reanalysis (ERA‐40) and NASA Data Assimilation Office fvGCM for 1990–1999 , 2003 .

[41]  E. Mlawer,et al.  Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous atmospheres: RRTM, a validated correlated-k model for the longwave , 1997 .

[42]  Shunlin Liang,et al.  Estimation of daily-integrated PAR from sparse satellite observations: comparison of temporal scaling methods , 2010 .

[43]  Martin Wild,et al.  Impact of geolocations of validation data on the evaluation of surface incident shortwave radiation from Earth System Models , 2015 .

[44]  A. Ohmura,et al.  The Global Energy Balance Archive , 1999 .

[45]  R. Reynolds,et al.  The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project , 1996, Renewable Energy.

[46]  K. Trenberth,et al.  Earth's annual global mean energy budget , 1997 .

[47]  W. Collins,et al.  The NCEP–NCAR 50-Year Reanalysis: Monthly Means CD-ROM and Documentation , 2001 .

[48]  B. McArthur,et al.  Baseline surface radiation network (BSRN/WCRP) New precision radiometry for climate research , 1998 .

[49]  Uang,et al.  The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis , 2010 .

[50]  M. Ek,et al.  Surface Water and Energy Budgets for the Mississippi River Basin in Three NCEP Reanalyses , 2015 .

[51]  J. Joseph,et al.  The delta-Eddington approximation for radiative flux transfer , 1976 .

[52]  S. Schubert,et al.  MERRA: NASA’s Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications , 2011 .

[53]  D. Easterling,et al.  Observations: Atmosphere and surface , 2013 .

[54]  Nicholas C. Coops,et al.  Validation of Solar Radiation Surfaces from MODIS and Reanalysis Data over Topographically Complex Terrain , 2009 .

[55]  Jerald A. Brotzge,et al.  A Two-Year Comparison of the Surface Water and Energy Budgets between Two OASIS Sites and NCEP–NCAR Reanalysis Data , 2004 .

[56]  Hiroshi Kawamura,et al.  Comparison of downward surface solar radiation derived from GMS5/VISSR and of reanalysis products , 2006 .

[57]  Christoph Schillings,et al.  Long-term variability of solar direct and global radiation derived from ISCCP data and comparison with reanalysis data , 2006 .

[58]  Isaac Moradi,et al.  Quality control of global solar radiation using sunshine duration hours , 2009 .

[59]  J. Thepaut,et al.  The ERA‐Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system , 2011 .