Evaluation of Five Global Top-of-Atmosphere Outgoing Longwave Radiation Products

Five global monthly top-of-atmosphere (TOA) outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) products are evaluated in this study, including the derived from High-Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS), Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), CM SAF cLoud, Albedo surface RAdiation dataset AVHRR data (CLARA), Global Water Cycle EXchanges (GEWEX) project. Results show that overall there is good consistency among these five products. Larger differences found between GEWEX CERES (HIRS) after (before) 2000 (RMSE ~ 5 W/m2), particularly tropical regions. In terms of mean values, shows large with other year 1992 to 2002, CLARA 1979 1981, which more obvious ocean values. Large discrepancies exist at low latitudinal bands, before 2000. Australia Asia (mid–low latitude part) two typical regions larger found.