The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument makes accurate measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget. It was specifically designed to be mounted on a geostationary satellite and was carried onboard the Meteosat Second Generation satellite operated by European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The first GERB instrument, GERB-2, was onboard Meteosat Second Generation satellite, MSG-1, and began transmitting data on 12th December 2002. GERB-1 was launched onboard MSG-2 on 21st December 2005. Future GERB sensors units are planned for MSG-3 and MSG-4. This dataset collection contains the incident and reflected solar radiation together with thermal radiation emitted by the Earth's atmosphere. The amount of solar radiation absorbed is the difference between the the incoming and reflected solar radiation and is the energy source of the Earth-atmosphere system. The thermal radiation emitted by the atmosphere is the only sink of energy so, therefore, the budget is the difference between the two. Seasonal changes in the ERB are mainly due to changes in incoming solar radiation but there is a large amount of variability on timescales of hours to days, mainly due to clouds. The global coverage and sampling frequency required for accurate climate models requires that ERB measurements are made from satellites.

Meteosat-7 and its predecessors were the first generation of earth observation dedicated geostationary satellites located at 36000 km above the intersection of the Equator and the Greenwich Meridian. Although superseded by MSG-1 (renamed Meteosat-8) in 2005, Meteosat-7 remained as back-up at 0o longitude until 14th June 2006. Meteosat-7 will be moved to 63oE longitude to continue coverage of the Indian Ocean and take over from Meteosat-5. Meteosat-7 was launched by the European Space Agency and operated by Eumetsat. This dataset contains thermal infra-red images from Meteosat Geostationary Satellites First Generation over Europe and North Atlantic.

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB-2) Level 2 High Resolution (L2HR) dataset contains accurate measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget. Broadband measurements of earth-leaving radiances are made from which the emitted thermal and reflected solar components of the Earth Radiation Budget are derived. These data are available at a time resolution of 15 minutes for the region 60E to 60W, 60N to 60S and area are ideal for studying fast variations in the radiation budget such as those associated with changing cloud conditions, aerosol events and the diurnal cycle. Time and pixel centres matched with METEOSAT imager SEVIRI. The level 2 HR (High Resolution) data are resolution enhanced snapshots of the top of atmosphere radiances and fluxes every 15 minutes. They are provided at the product acquisition time of the METEOSAT narrowband SEVIRI imager on a fixed equal viewing angle grid matched to 3x3 SEVIRI pixel grid-boxes. This gives the HR product a temporal resolution of 15 minutes and a grid spacing of 9 km at the sub-satellite point. The time in the product name is the same as the SEVIRI product name time. Instantaneous accuracy at the HR scale is expected to be lower than for the lower spatial resolution GERB products as additional noise is introduced by the resolution enhancement, particularly for very inhomogeneous scenes and extreme angles. However, the HR product is recommended as the basis for users wishing to create custom averages over time and space and its production ensures that after appropriate averaging its accuracy is commensurate with the other GERB products The GERB instrument was specifically designed to be mounted on a geostationary satellite and was carried onboard the Meteosat Second Generation satellite operated by European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The first GERB instrument, GERB-2, was onboard Meteosat Second Generation satellite, MSG-1, and covers the period March 2004 to May 2007. Users must read the quality summary associated with these data and will find details of user applied correction that are recommended to be applied to these datasets before using. Please cite Harries et al., 2005: The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Project, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Vol. 86, 945-960, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-86-7-945.

This dataset contains Level 2 averaged rectified geolocated radiance and flux data (L2arg) taken at 17 minute time resolution. Each grid point is a 3 GERB scan average weighted by the instrument point spread function. The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument makes accurate broadband measurements of earth leaving radiances from the geostationary METOSAT Second Generation satellites from which the emitted thermal and reflected solar components of the Earth Radiation Budget are derived. These data are available at high time resolution for the portion of the globe observable from a METEOSAT geostationary orbit above 0, 0. These data are ideal for studying fast variation in the radiation budget such as those associated with changing cloud conditions, aerosol events and the diurnal cycle. GERB 2 (METEOSAT-8) record covers the period March 2004 to April 2007. GERB 1 (METEOSAT-9) record covers the period May 2007 to January 2013. Users must read the quality summary associated with these data and will find details of user applied correction that are recommended to be applied to these datasets before using. Please cite Harries et al., 2005: The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Project, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Vol. 86, 945-960, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-86-7-945. The level 2 ARG (Averaged, Rectified, Geolocated) top of atmosphere radiance and flux products are averaged over three interleaved SW and TOT GERB scans. They are provided interpolated to a fixed rectified equal viewing angle grid and averaged resulting in a product with a temporal resolution of around 17 minutes. Times contained in the level 2 ARG product names indicate the nominal start of the integration period. North-south and east-west grid spacing is around 0.07° in viewing angle giving a spatial resolution of approximately 45 km at nadir. Whilst the radiances and fluxes are corrected for the spectral imperfections of the instrument, no correction is made for spatial non-uniformities in the instrument field of view response. Thus each ARG grid point is a weighted average of the observed scenes with the weighting determined by the instrument field of view response or Point Spread Function (PSF).

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB-1) Level 2 High Resolution (L2HR) dataset contains accurate measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget. Broadband measurements of earth-leaving radiances are made from which the emitted thermal and reflected solar components of the Earth Radiation Budget are derived. These data are available at a time resolution of 15 minutes for the region 60E to 60W, 60N to 60S and area are ideal for studying fast variations in the radiation budget such as those associated with changing cloud conditions, aerosol events and the diurnal cycle. Time and pixel centres matched with METEOSAT imager SEVIRI. The level 2 HR (High Resolution) data are resolution enhanced snapshots of the top of atmosphere radiances and fluxes every 15 minutes. They are provided at the product acquisition time of the METEOSAT narrowband SEVIRI imager on a fixed equal viewing angle grid matched to 3x3 SEVIRI pixel grid-boxes. This gives the HR product a temporal resolution of 15 minutes and a grid spacing of 9 km at the sub-satellite point. The time in the product name is the same as the SEVIRI product name time. Instantaneous accuracy at the HR scale is expected to be lower than for the lower spatial resolution GERB products as additional noise is introduced by the resolution enhancement, particularly for very inhomogeneous scenes and extreme angles. However, the HR product is recommended as the basis for users wishing to create custom averages over time and space and its production ensures that after appropriate averaging its accuracy is commensurate with the other GERB products The GERB instrument was specifically designed to be mounted on a geostationary satellite and was carried onboard the Meteosat Second Generation satellite operated by European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The second GERB instrument, GERB-1, was onboard Meteosat Second Generation satellite, MSG-2, and covers the period May 2007 to January 2013. Users must read the quality summary associated with these data and will find details of user applied correction that are recommended to be applied to these datasets before using. Please cite Harries et al., 2005: The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Project, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Vol. 86, 945-960, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-86-7-945.

This dataset contains Level 2 averaged rectified geolocated radiance and flux data (L2arg) taken at 17 minute time resolution. Each grid point is a 3 GERB scan average weighted by the instrument point spread function. The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument makes accurate broadband measurements of earth leaving radiances from the geostationary METOSAT Second Generation satellites from which the emitted thermal and reflected solar components of the Earth Radiation Budget are derived. These data are available at high time resolution for the portion of the globe observable from a METEOSAT geostationary orbit above 0, 0. These data are ideal for studying fast variation in the radiation budget such as those associated with changing cloud conditions, aerosol events and the diurnal cycle. GERB 2 (METEOSAT-8) record covers the period March 2004 to April 2007. GERB 1 (METEOSAT-9) record covers the period May 2007 to January 2013. Users must read the quality summary associated with these data and will find details of user applied correction that are recommended to be applied to these datasets before using. Please also cite Harries et al., 2005: The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Project, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Vol. 86, 945-960, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-86-7-945. The level 2 ARG (Averaged, Rectified, Geolocated) top of atmosphere radiance and flux products are averaged over three interleaved SW and TOT GERB scans. They are provided interpolated to a fixed rectified equal viewing angle grid and averaged resulting in a product with a temporal resolution of around 17 minutes. Times contained in the level 2 ARG product names indicate the nominal start of the integration period. North-south and east-west grid spacing is around 0.07° in viewing angle giving a spatial resolution of approximately 45 km at nadir. Whilst the radiances and fluxes are corrected for the spectral imperfections of the instrument, no correction is made for spatial non-uniformities in the instrument field of view response. Thus each ARG grid point is a weighted average of the observed scenes with the weighting determined by the instrument field of view response or Point Spread Function (PSF).