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Five ISLSCP II Albedo Data Sets

Submitted by ORNL DAAC Staff on

The ORNL DAAC announces the release of five data sets associated with the International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP).

ISLSCP II EARTH RADIATION BUDGET EXPERIMENT (ERBE) MONTHLY ALBEDO, 1986-1990. Data set prepared by B.R. Barkstrom. The ERBE data set contains global, top of atmosphere, clear sky albedo data from January 1986 to February 1990. Both the original monthly data at 2.5 degree resolution and the re-gridded 1 degree monthly data files are provided.

ISLSCP II MODIS (COLLECTION 4) ALBEDO, 2002. Data set prepared by A.H. Strahler, C.L.B. Schaaf, and F. Gao. The MODIS BRDF/Albedo Product (MOD43B, Collection 4) provides measures of clear sky surface albedo every 16 days. Both white-sky albedo (bihemispherical reflectance) and black-sky albedo (directional hemispherical reflectance) at local solar noon are provided for 7 spectral bands and 3 broadbands. This data set provides albedo data for the period January 2002 through December 2002.

ISLSCP II MONTHLY SNOW-FREE ALBEDO, 1982-1998, AND BACKGROUND SOIL REFLECTANCE. Data set prepared by D.A. Dazlich and S.O. Los. This data set contains monthly average snow-free surface shortwave albedo calculated for the period 1982-1998 and estimates of background soil/litter reflectances in the visible (0.4-0.7 μm) and near-infrared (0.7-1.0 μm) wavelengths.

ISLSCP II NOAA 5-YEAR AVERAGE MONTHLY SNOW-FREE ALBEDO FROM AVHRR. Data set prepared by I.A. Csiszar. This data set provides a monthly climatology of broadband surface albedos that was derived for use in global numerical weather prediction models at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). Monthly means of clear-sky, surface, broadband, snow-free albedos for overhead sun illumination angle were determined using data from a five-year period from April 1985-December 1987 and January 1989-March 1991.

ISLSCP II SNOW-FREE, SPATIALLY COMPLETE, 16 DAY ALBEDO, 2002. Data set prepared by E.G. Moody, M.D. King, C.L.B. Schaaf, and F. Gao. This data set contains 9 files for snow-free, spatially complete 16-day global black-sky albedos at local solar noon, white-sky albedos and quality information based on MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 4 Albedo Products (MOD43B3). Data are provided for 7 spectral bands and 3 broad bands for a full year of MODIS data (2002).

International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP)

The ISLSCP Initiative II data collection is designed to support modeling studies of the global carbon, water and energy cycle. This data collection contains 50 global time series spanning the ten-year period 1986 to 1995 compiled under the guidance of Forrest Hall and colleagues at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The data for Initiative II were acquired from a number of U.S. and international agencies, universities, and institutions, then co-registered to equal-angle grids of one degree, one-half and one-quarter degree resolution and reformatted into a common ASCII format.

The collection includes a variety of remotely sensed data sets ranging from visible to microwave wavelengths. The data sets also include improved topography, surface radiation, near-surface meteorology, precipitation, runoff, soils, and vegetation data sets that can be used in a variety of interdisciplinary research activities. Several data sets to support global carbon and biogeochemical studies are also provided.

The ORNL DAAC is a NASA-funded data center archiving and distributing terrestrial ecology and biogeochemical dynamics data.