Skip to main content
Welcome to GCOS
GCOS Slogan

Main navigation

  • Home
  • About
  • ECV
    • Essential Climate Variables
    • ECV Review
    • About Essential Climate Variables
  • Expert Panels
    • Atmospheric Observation Panel for Climate
    • Ocean Observations Physics and Climate Panel
    • Terrestrial Observation Panel for Climate
    • Joint Panels Meeting 2019
    • Joint Panels Meeting 2021
    • Joint Panels Meeting 2023
  • Cooperation
    • Cooperation Mechanism
    • Regional Workshops
    • National Cooperations
    • CBS Lead Centres for GCOS
  • Indicators
  • News
  • Networks
  • GCOS Goes Green
  • Publications
    • GCOS Implementation Plan 2022
    • GCOS Implementation Plan 2016
    • GCOS Status Report 2021
    • Publications and Outreach
  1. Home
  2. Essential Climate Variables
  3. Earth Radiation Budget

 

Earth Radiation Budget

The Earth Radiation Budget (at the top of the atmosphere) describes the overall balance between the incoming energy from the sun and the outgoing thermal (longwave) and reflected (shortwave) energy from the earth. It can only be measured from space. The radiation balance at the top of the atmosphere is the basic radiative forcing of the climate system. Measuring its variability in space and time over the globe provides insight into the overall response of the system to this forcing.

  Domain: Atmosphere
  Subdomain: Upper Atmosphere
  Scientific Area: Energy and Temperature
  ECV Steward:  
  Products:  Radiation Profile, Downward Short-Wave Irradiance at Top of the Atmosphere, Upward Short-Wave Irradiance at Top of the Atmosphere, Upward Long-Wave Irradiance at Top of the Atmosphere, Solar Spectral Irradiance

 


ECV Products and Requirements

These products and requirements reflect the Implementation Plan 2022 (GCOS-244).

The requirements are found in the complete 2022 ECVs Requirements document as well: ECV Earth Radiation Budget

 

Products     Radiation Profile Downward Short-Wave Irradiance at Top of the Atmosphere Upward Short-Wave Irradiance at Top of the Atmosphere Upward Long-Wave Irradiance at Top of the Atmosphere
  (*) Unit Values Values Values Values
Horizontal Resolution G km 10 10 10 10
B 50 50 50 50
T 100 100 100 100
Vertical Resolution G km 1 - - -
B 2 - - -
T 4 - - -
Temporal Resolution G h 1 1 1 1
B 24 6 24 24
T 720 24 720 720
Timeliness G h 1 1 1 1
B 24 24 24 24
T 720 720 720 720
Required Measurement Uncertainty (2-sigma) G W m-2 0.1/0.2 0.04 0.2 0.2
B 0.2/0.4 0.08 0.5 0.5
T 0.4/0.8 0.12 1 1
Stability G W m-2/decade 0.025/0.05 0.01 0.06 0.05
B 0.05/0.1 0.02 0.15 0.1
T 0.1/0.2 0.04 0.3 0.2

 

Products     Solar Spectral Irradiance
  (*) Unit Values
Horizontal Resolution G mm 10
B 50
T 100
Spectral Resolution G    
B < 290 nm 1nm
290-1000 nm 2nm
1000-1600 nm 5nm
1600-3200 10nm
3200-6400 20nm
6400-10020 nm 40nm
10020-160000 nm 20000nm
T    
Temporal Resolution G h 3
B 12
T 24
Timeliness G h 1
B 10
T 90
Required Measurement Uncertainty (2-sigma) G % 0.3
B 1.5
T 3
Stability G %/ decade 0.03
B 0.15
T 0.3

 

(*) Goal (G): an ideal requirement above which further improvements are not necessary. Breakthrough (B): an intermediate level between threshold and goal which, if achieved, would result in a significant improvement for the targeted application. The breakthrough value may also indicate the level at which specified uses within climate monitoring become possible. It may be appropriate to have different breakthrough values for different uses. Threshold (T): the minimum requirement to be met to ensure that data are useful


Data Sources

This list provides sources for openly accessible data sets with worldwide coverage for which metadata is available. It is curated by the respective GCOS ECV Steward(s). The list does not claim to be complete. Anyone with a suitable dataset who wishes it to be added to this list should contact the GCOS Secretariat.

Reanalysis:

  • REANALYSES.ORG (Inventory for Reanalysis)

http://reanalyses.org


Satellite:

  • Satellite ECV Inventory by the CEOS/CGMS Working Group on Climate (WGClimate)

http://climatemonitoring.info/ecvinventory

 

EU Copernicus

 

Sponsors

Twitter icon



Copyright | Privacy | Contact