Abstract
The outgoing long‐wave (OLR) and net solar (NSR) radiation at the top of the atmosphere, derived from the NOAA series satellites, are compared with those measured by the wide‐field‐of‐view Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) radiometers aboard Nimbus 7. For selected months between 1979 and 1983 important regional differences are found for both the OLR and NSR between the ERB observations and the NOAA, which have been spatially smoothed to approximate the resolution of the former. Knowledge of the systematic differences is utilized to derive linear regression equations, which adjust the smoothed NOAA data to match as well as possible the ERB measurements. These adjustment equations reduce the mean squared difference between the NOAA and ERB data for independent samples, not used in the statistical model development, by approximately 50% for both OLR and NSR. the adjustment equations are applied to the 2.5° NOAA data for June 1974 through May 1988. Long‐term zonal averages of the annual and monthly radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere are displayed and discussed. the adjusted data budgets are much more realistic than those derived from unadjusted data and suggest physical features not clearly evident in the previously published analyses based upon lower resolution data.