Surface Incident Shortwave Radiation

Abstract

This article focuses on the methods for estimating incident shortwave radiation (RS) at the surface and consists of four major sections. A brief introduction is given in the section “Introduction”; section “Ground Validation Networks and Existing RS Products” introduces existing radiation ground-measurement networks and current representative RS products from satellite observations, general circulation model simulations, and reanalysis data; section “RS Retrieval Methods from Satellite Observations” discusses RS retrieval methods using satellite observations; section “Evaluation and Analysis of the Current RS Products” presents an comprehensive analysis of current RS products derived from satellite observations and reanalysis data; a short summary is given in the section “Summary”. Incident shortwave radiation from 300 to 3000nm at the land surface is an important parameter in the surface radiation budget and drives the weather processes through latent and sensible heat fluxes and longwave emissions, ultimately influencing the Earth's climate system. Satellite remote sensing is one of the most effective ways to map surface RS regionally and globally due to its high spatial resolution and wide coverage.