Generating Global Surface Albedo Products from Multiple Geostationary Satellites

Abstract

Operational weather geostationary satellites have acquired data for more than two decades and offers thus the possibility to generate long time series of essential climate variables like surface albedo as suggested by GCOS. This paper investigates the possibility to generate a consistent global surface broadband albedo map from these satellites. In this context, the paper addresses two specific issues. Firstly, the spatial consistency of surface albedo derived from five different geostationary satellites is examined in details. Secondly, this product has been compared with the equivalent MODIS one to define the temporal consistency between surface albedo derived with old geostationary instrument and technologically advanced instrument like MODIS.