We present a novel 28 yr dataset of Earth's black-sky surface albedo, derived from AVHRR instruments. The dataset is created using algorithms to separately derive the surface albedo for different land use areas globally. Snow, sea ice, open water and vegetation are all treated independently. The product features corrections for the atmospheric effect in satellite-observed surface radiances, a BRDF correction for the anisotropic reflectance properties of natural surfaces, and a novel topography correction of geolocation and radiometric accuracy of surface reflectance observations over mountainous areas. The dataset is based on a homogenized AVHRR radiance timeseries. The product is validated against quality-controlled in situ observations of clear-sky surface albedo at various BSRN sites around the world. Snow and ice albedo retrieval validation is given particular attention using BSRN sites over Antarctica, Greenland Climate Network stations on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), as well as sea ice albedo data from the SHEBA and Tara expeditions. The product quality is found to be comparable to other previous long-term surface albedo datasets from AVHRR
Whole‐summer and monthly sea ice regional albedo averages for June, July, and August from 1982 to 1998 have been processed from advanced very high resolution radiometer data. Time series for albedo, sea ice concentration, sea ice extent, and surface air temperature have been calculated for the sea ice cover for the Northern Hemisphere as a whole and for six subregions: the Arctic Ocean, the Kara and Barents Seas, the Greenland Sea, the Labrador Sea, Hudson Bay, and the Canadian archipelago. The slope of the summer albedo trend for the Northern Hemisphere is −0.0007 ± 0.0008/year. The largest monthly slope (−0.0016 ± 0.0011/year) is found for June, and the lowest slope (−0.0004 ± 0.0014/year) is found for August. Among the subregions the Greenland Sea has the steepest negative summer trend of −0.0038 ± 0.0012/year during the period, while for the Arctic Ocean the albedo trend is near zero. The calculated trends for the summer sea ice concentration and extent for the Northern Hemisphere are also negative, with a slopes of −0.093 ± 0.069%/year and −42,300 ± 15,200 km2/yr, respectively. In general, the albedo in the central Arctic is between 0.5 and 0.7. The highest albedo values are mainly found in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland. The lowest albedo (0.2–0.3) occurs in the fringe area of the Arctic Ocean, e.g., on the coasts of Alaska and Siberia. Low albedo values also exist on the east coast of Greenland and in Hudson Bay.
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