Surface albedo climatologies

Knowledge of the surface albedo is important for the retrieval of atmospheric trace gases, aerosols, and clouds from satellite data. We have created spectral surface albedo databases (more precisely: Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity, LER, databases) at several wavelengths from UV-VIS-NIR and SWIR spectrometers GOME-1 on ERS-2, SCIAMACHY on Envisat, OMI on EOS-Aura, and GOME-2 on the MetOp satellites.

These surface LER databases are gridded climatological data sets, per month of the year, holding for the period indicated per data set. The advantages of using the surface LER from the same satellite instrument as for which the retrievals are being performed are that remaining calibration errors are accounted for, and that surface BRDF effects are included to first order.

The GOME-2 surface LER database additionally contains the so-called directionally dependent Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (DLER) of the surface. In the GOME-2 surface DLER product, the viewing-angle dependence of the reflectivity of the surface, due to the BRDF of the surface, is taken into account, which improves the product considerably, especially for the longer wavelengths.

The following surface albedo climatologies are available:

• Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (LER) climatologies from GOME-1, SCIAMACHY, OMI, and GOME-2:
• GOME-1 surface LER
• SCIAMACHY surface LER
• OMI surface LER
• GOME-2 surface LER & DLER
• Black-sky albedo (BSA) climatology based on MERIS:
• MERIS surface BSA

L.G. Tilstra, O.N.E. Tuinder, P. Wang, and P. Stammes, Surface reflectivity climatologies from UV to NIR determined from Earth observations by GOME-2 and SCIAMACHY, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 122, 4084-4111, doi:10.1002/2016JD025940, 2017 (PDF)