Fabbri, Bryan; Schuster, Gregory L; Denn, Fred M; Lin, Bing; Rutan, David A; Su, Wenying; Eitzen, Zachary A; Madigan Jr., James J; Arduini, Robert F; Loeb, Norman G (2025): Upwelling longwave irradiance at Chesapeake Light Station measured in the presence of an obstruction with the component summation technique [dataset]. PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.984135
Always quote citation above when using data! You can download the citation in several formats below.
Published: 2025-08-06 • DOI registered: 2025-09-04
Abstract:
The CERES Ocean Validation Experiment (COVE) was an instrument suite located at the Chesapeake Light Station approximately 25 kilometers east of Virginia Beach, Virginia (36N, 75.7W). COVE provided surface verification for the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite measurements for 16 years. However, the large light station occupied approximately 15% of the field of view of the upwelling longwave flux measurement (LWup), so radiation from the structure artificially perturbed the measurements. Hence, we use data from multiple instruments that are not influenced by the structure to accurately obtain (LWup); we call this the longwave component summation technique. The instruments required for the component summation are an infrared radiation thermometer to measure sea surface temperature, a pyrgeometer to measure downwelling longwave irradiance, and an air temperature probe. We find a strong negative bias between the obstructed upwelling pyrgeometer measurements and the component summation LWup in the colder months, less so in the warmer months. The bias ranged from -6% to +5% over COVE from 2004-2013. These range of biases are larger than the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) targeted uncertainties of 2% or 3 W/m² (whichever is greatest), indicating that the component summation technique provides a significant correction to standard BSRN protocols when an obstruction is present. This work documents how we determine the component summation LWup irradiances, demonstrates that the calculated values achieve a relative standard error of 0.6% and are within the 2% target uncertainty, and presents guidelines for implementing this methodology at other locations.
Supplement to:
Fabbri, Bryan; Schuster, Gregory L; Denn, Fred M; Lin, Bing; Rutan, David A; Su, Wenying; Eitzen, Zachary A; Madigan Jr., James J; Arduini, Robert F; Loeb, Norman G (2025): The Component Summation Technique for Measuring Upwelling Longwave Irradiance in the Presence of an Obstruction. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 18(21), 5939-5954, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-5939-2025
Related to:
Denn, Fred M; Schuster, Gregory L; Smith Jr., William L; Fabbri, Bryan; Rutledge, Charles K (2021): Basic measurements of radiation at station Chesapeake Light (2000-05 - 2016-11) [dataset publication series]. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, PANGAEA, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.933174
Further details:
Methodology - component summation. CompSumm.pdf
Project(s):
Coverage:
Latitude: 36.905000 * Longitude: -75.713000
Date/Time Start: 2004-02-27T00:15:00 * Date/Time End: 2013-10-24T16:45:00
Minimum Elevation: 37.0 m * Maximum Elevation: 37.0 m
Event(s):
CLH (Chesapeake Light) * Latitude: 36.905000 * Longitude: -75.713000 * Date/Time Start: 2000-06-01T00:00:00 * Date/Time End: 2016-11-16T00:00:00 * Elevation: 37.0 m * Location: North Atlantic Ocean * Method/Device: Monitoring station (MONS) * Comment: BSRN station no: 39; Surface type: water, ocean; Topography type: flat, rural; Horizon: doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.669513; Station scientist: Fred M. Denn (Frederick.M.Denn@nasa.gov) and Bryan Fabbri (bryan.e.fabbri@nasa.gov) ** Closed in Dec 2016, structural issues **
Parameter(s):
| # | Name | Short Name | Unit | Principal Investigator | Method/Device | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DATE/TIME | Date/Time | Fabbri, Bryan | Geocode – UTC/GMT | ||
| 2 | Date, decimal | Date decimal | Fabbri, Bryan | Year.DecimalTime | ||
| 3 | Day of the year, description | DOY desc | Fabbri, Bryan | YYYYDOY in GMT | ||
| 4 | Day of the year | DOY | day | Fabbri, Bryan | in GMT | |
| 5 | Time, decimal | Time decimal | Fabbri, Bryan | Day.DecimalTime in GMT | ||
| 6 | Solar zenith angle | SZA | deg | Fabbri, Bryan | ||
| 7 | Solar azimuth angle | SAA | deg | Fabbri, Bryan | ||
| 8 | Long-wave upward radiation | LWU | W/m2 | Fabbri, Bryan | Calculated, component summation technique | at 21 m height above surface |
| 9 | Long-wave upward radiation | LWU | W/m2 | Fabbri, Bryan | Calculated, component summation technique | immediately above the water surface |
Change history:
2025-11-05T09:25:47 – Added LWU at surface and DOY info
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0)
Status:
Curation Level: Enhanced curation (CurationLevelC)
Size:
848240 data points
Download Data
View dataset as HTML (shows only first 2000 rows)