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NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Monthly Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), Version 2.7

Published by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Catalog Last Checked: April 12, 2026 at 09:24 PM | Dataset Last Updated: July 17, 2018 at 12:00 AM
This Climate Data Record (CDR) of monthly mean Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) flux at the top of the atmosphere in all sky conditions is on a 2.5 degree x 2.5 degree grid with global coverage from January 1979 to the present and continuing monthly. It is derived based on the multispectral High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) OLR algorithm and other methodologies. This dataset was created from HIRS OLR retrievals from TIROS-N to NOAA-19, and MetOp-A/B satellites with inter-satellite calibration adjustments and employed the empirical diurnal model for monthly mean derivation. This version 2.7 is an upgrade from the previous version 2.2-1. The main change is in the OLR regression models and the inter-satellite calibration. The version 2.7 OLR regression models improved the retrieval consistency between variant versions of HIRS instruments, HIRS-2, 2i, 3 and 4, and in turn, the accuracy of inter-satellite calibration is significantly improved, thus eliminating the spurious trends presented in the version 2.2-1 data. The data file format is netCDF-4 with CF metadata, and it is accompanied by algorithm documentation, data flow diagram and source code for the NOAA CDR Program.

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