ISLSCP II Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Monthly Albedo, 1986-1990

This data set, ISLSCP II Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) Monthly Albedo, 1986-1990, contains both the original ERBE albedo data at 2.5 degree spatial resolution, and the International Land Surface Climatology Project Initative II (ISLSCP Initiative II) albedo product re-gridded to 1 degree resolution. The goals of the ERBE were (1) to understand the radiation balance between the Sun, Earth, atmosphere, and space and (2) to establish an accurate, long-term baseline data set for detection of climate changes. Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) data are fundamental to the development of realistic climate models and to the understanding of natural and anthropogenic perturbations of the climate system. As part of ERBE, measurements of broadband shortwave radiation reflected from the Earth-atmosphere system were obtained, from which top of atmosphere albedo values were calculated. In addition, values from scenes determined to be free of clouds were analyzed separately and clear-sky albedos were derived. For this study, only the clear-sky albedos are included. The ERBE data sets for ISLSCP Initiative II contain global, top of atmosphere, clear sky albedo data from January 1986 to February 1990.