Evaluation of Reprocessed Surface SW Downward Fluxes

The evaluation against ground observations is for the years  1996 to 2000. The satellite estimates come from:

The versions differ in cloud screening procedures only; the inference scheme is identical.

The ground truth comes from:

The results of the evaluation are presented in the following figures:

 

Figure 1. Hourly BIAS and RMS at SURFRAD stations (4  together)


 

Figure 2. Daily BIAS and RMS at SURFRAD stations (4 together)


 

Figure 3. Hourly BIAS and RMS at ARZ stations (21 together)


 

Figure 4. Daily BIAS and RMS at ARZ (21 together)


 

Figure 5. Hourly BIAS and RMS at ILL  (19 together)


 

Figure 6. Daily BIAS and RMS at ILL  (19 together)

** Note: The high RMS and BIAS in September 1997 is due to errors in ground truth during that month.


 

Figure 7. Hourly BIAS and RMS at Bondville, IL (SURFRAD)


 

Figure 8. Hourly BIAS and RMS at Fort Peck, MT  (SURFRAD)

 

An improvement is evident during the winter months when compared to the operational product. During the summer months, the two products are in close agreement. The focus of current activity was on improving the shortwave fluxes during the winter season.  


Surface Radiation Budget Account
Last modified: Fri May 13 10:14:48 EST 2005