loading page

Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of AIRS and CERES OLR Climatologies and Anomaly Time Series
  • +1
  • Joel Susskind,
  • Jae Lee,
  • Lena Iredell,
  • Norman G. Loeb
Joel Susskind
NASA GSFC

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Jae Lee
University of Maryland
Author Profile
Lena Iredell
SAIC @ NASA GSFC
Author Profile
Norman G. Loeb
NASA Langley Research Center
Author Profile

Abstract

This paper compares the characteristics of the monthly mean AIRS Version-6 and CERES_EBAF Edition 4.0 OLR data sets over a 14-year overlap period, September 2002 through August 2016. These comparisons include spatial plots of monthly mean OLR climatologies and spatial plots of OLR Average Rates of Change (ARCs), representative of the slopes of the linear least squares fits to anomaly time series. This paper also compares spatial plots of El Niño Correlations (ENCs) of the AIRS OLR and CERES OLR anomaly time series. ENCs represent temporal correlations of anomaly time series with an El Niño Index that we define in this paper. In addition, we show ARCs and ENCs of select derived AIRS geophysical parameters that help explain OLR variability in space and time. There are separate AIRS data sets that use data observed only in ascending Aqua orbits (AIRS) and data observed only in descending Aqua orbits (AIRS). An additional data set of AIRS products exists based on observations made in both orbits (AIRS). There is excellent agreement between the ARCs of CERES OLR and the ARCs of AIRS OLR down to the 1˚ by 1˚ longitude spatial scale. The AIRS OLR product displays a positive global mean monthly mean bias compared to CERES OLR of roughly 3.0 W/m that is essentially constant in space and time. The largest differences between AIRS OLR and CERES OLR monthly climatologies and anomaly time series occur in regions where the diurnal differences of AIRS OLR are largest.