A sea surface radiation data set for climate applications in the tropical western Pacific and South China Sea

The sea surface shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes have been retrieved from the radiances measured by Japan's Geostationary Meteorological Satell ite 5. The surface radiation data set covers the domain 40 degreesS-40 degr eesN and 90 degreesE-170 degreesW and a period starting from January 1998. The temporal resolution is 1 day, and the spatial resolution is 0.5 degrees x0.5 degrees latitude-longitude. The retrieved surface radiation has been validated with the radiometric measurements at the Atmospheric Radiation Me asurement (ARM) site on Manus Island in the equatorial western Pacific. It has also been validated with the measurements at the radiation site on Dung sha Island during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) (May and June 1998). The data set is used to study the effect of El Nine and East As ian summer monsoon on the heating of the ocean. Interannual variations of c louds associated with El Nine and the East Asian summer monsoon have a larg e impact on the radiative heating of the ocean, exceeding 40 W m(-2) in sea sonal mean over large areas. Together with the Clouds and the Earth's Radia nt Energy System (CERES) shortwave fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and the radiative transfer calculations of dear-sky fluxes, this surface radiat ion data set is also used to study the impact of clouds on the solar heatin g of the atmosphere. It is found that clouds enhance the atmospheric solar heating by similar to 21 W m in the tropical western Pacific and the South China Sea.