• SURFRAD/BSRN

NOAA established the Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) in 1993 [40] to support climate research by providing accurate, continuous, long-term measurements of the surface radiation budget over the United States. These became the continental U.S. contingent of the International Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) [41] as described in [42]. The SURFRAD Network uses Eppley Precision Infrared Pyrgeometers (model PIR). The general information about the instrumentation can be found at: https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/surfrad/overview.html.

Specifically, we used the following sites: Desert Rock, Nevada (DRA: 36.62◦N, 116.02◦W; 1007 m); Fort Peck, Montana (FPK: 48.32◦N, 105.10◦W; 634 m); Bondville, Illinois (BON: 40.06◦N, 88.37◦W; 230 m) and Goodwin Creek, Mississippi (GCM: 34.25◦N, 89.87◦W; 98 m). BSRN sites that provide data at 1 or 3-min frequency, which makes them suitable for generating information to match the satellite observations. The upwelling and downwelling longwave radiative fluxes are measured with a precision infrared radiometer, which is sensitive in the spectral range from 3000 to 50,000 nm.
