A 60+ Year Perspective of Advancement of Science Results from Studies of the Earth’s Radiation Budget from Space and a Proposal for the International ERB Consortium

From the late 1950’s International Geophysical Year experiment to the upcoming NASA Libera EVC-1 Mission there is and will be a steady gain of Science results and knowledge of Earth’s Radiation Budget (ERB) from Space . This Perspective identifies 7 key ERB observing periods with their technologies, satellite observations and examples of new results. Key science information from ERB ranging from required poleward energy transports through global cloud radiative forcing to Earth’s Energy Imbalance will be discussed. For the next decade of progress I propose actions by an International ERB Consortium toward a constellation of 7 to 8 orbiting ERB instruments.