Decadal Variability of Earth Radiation Budget Deduced from Satellite Altitude Corrected ERBE/ERBS Nonscanner Data

Continuous monitoring of the Earth radiation field at top of the atmosphere is essential for understanding the Earth climate and climate change. Recent discovery of large decadal variability in the tropical mean Earth radiation budget from overlapping satellite instruments record has further highlighted the critical needs for high quality continuous long-term satellite measurements in climate research. This study will examine the regional, zonal, tropical (20N to 20S), and near-global (60N to 60S) aspect of decadal variability in Earth radiation budget using satellite altitude corrected ERBE/ERBS Nonscanner data between 1985 and 1999. Preliminary data analysis will be performed to explore (1) the effects of ERBS altitude changes on the time series of tropical mean ERBS Nonscanner data and (2) the magnitudes of decadal changes in Earth radiation field during this period.