FIRST GLOBAL WCRP SHORTWAVE SURFACE RADIATION BUDGET DATASET

Shortwave radiative fluxes that reach the earth's surface are key fact ors that influence atmospheric and oceanic circulations as well as sur face climate. Yet, information on these fluxes is meager. Surface site data are generally available from only a limited number of observing stations over land. Much less is known about the large-scale variabili ty of the shortwave radiative fluxes over the oceans, which cover most of the globe. Recognizing the need to produce global-scale fields of such fluxes for use in climate research, the World Climate Research Pr ogram has initiated activities that led to the establishment of the Su rface Radiation Budget Climatology Project with the ultimate goal to d etermine various components of the surface radiation budget from satel lite data. in this paper, the first global products that resulted from this activity are described. Month ly and daily data on a 280-km grid scale are available. Samples of climate parameters obtainable from th e dataset are presented. Emphasis is given to validation and limitatio ns of the results. For most of the globe, satellite estimates have bia s values between +/-20 W m(-2) and rms values are around 25 W m(-2). T here are specific regions with much larger uncertainties however.