Assessing changes and variability of surface and top-of-the-atmosphere shortwave and longwave radiation with satellite data

The radiative fluxes at the surface and at the top-of-the-atmosphere are key components of the Earth energy budget. In addition, the surface fluxes, in particular the surface solar radiation fluxes, are of high relevance for practical applications., e.g., for the planning and the monitoring of solar power systems. Data records often were designed for a certain application area like climate analyses or renewable energy, but their successful usage in a wide range of application and research areas underline their various benefits. 

Three satellite-based radiation data records are available from the CM SAF: CLARA, SARAH, and HANNA. These data records provide global daily information of the surface and the top-of-the-atmosphere radiation (CLARA-A3) as well as regional high resolution (space and time) data of the surface radiation (SARAH-3, HANNA) serving climate, solar energy, and other applications.

Here we will present the three CM SAF data records and compare their suitability for certain applications. While the global CLARA data record allows the assessment of larger-scale / global phenomena incl. the surface and the top-of-the-atmosphere radiation, the SARAH and the HANNA data records allows analysis of surface irradiance at smaller spatial and temporal scales.