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Data / Science Data Products / VAPs

BEFLUX

Best-Estimate Radiative Flux

Baseline VAP

Best estimate of downwelling diffuse SW (top plot) and the differences between best estimate and instrument data (bottom plot) in the year 2000. In the top plot, the red curves mark the instances when SIRS C1 data were not used in the best estimate calculation. In the bottom plot, the red, blue, and green colors represent the differences of the best estimate value and the SIRS C1, E13, and BRS data, respectively.

The Best-Estimate Surface Radiative Flux (BEFLUX) VAP processes data from three Southern Great Plains Central Facility radiometer systems when all are available. Before 2001, this VAP used corrected diffuse SW from the DiffCorr1Dutt VAP as input. The 1-minute input data are compared to decide which to use for averaging to get the best estimate. The output data are saved in two NetCDF files containing the best estimate values, QC flags, and the difference fields.
For more details, see Best Estimate Radiation Flux Value-Added Procedure: Algorithm Operational Details and Explanations.

Primary Derived Measurements

Technical Report Browse Data

Contact

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Damao Zhang
Translator Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

References

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Creekmore et al. "Quantifying aerosol direct effects from broadband irradiance and spectral aerosol optical depth observations". 2014. 10.1002/2013jd021217.

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Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) | Reviewed March 2025