The Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) version 2017: A database for worldwide measured surface energy fluxes. Link to database files

The Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) is a database for the central storage of the worldwide measured energy fluxes at the Earth's surface, maintained at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). This paper documents the status of the GEBA version 2017 dataset, presents the new web interface and user access, and reviews the scientific impact that GEBA data had in various applications. GEBA has continuously been expanded and updated and contains in its 2017 version around 500.000 monthly mean entries of various surface energy balance components measured at 2500 locations. The database contains observations from 15 surface energy flux components, with the most widely measured quantity available in GEBA being the shortwave radiation incident at the Earth's surface (global radiation). Many of the historic records extend over several decades. GEBA contains monthly data from a variety of sources, namely from the World Radiation Data Centre (WRDC) in St. Petersburg, from national weather services, from different research networks (BSRN, ARM, SURFRAD), from peer-reviewed publications, project and data reports, and from personal communications. Quality checks are applied to test for gross errors in the dataset. GEBA has played a key role in various research applications, such as in the quantification of the global energy balance, in the discussion of the anomalous atmospheric shortwave absorption, and in the detection of multi-decadal variations in global radiation, known as "global dimming" and "brightening". GEBA is further extensively used for the evaluation of climate models and satellite-derived surface flux products. On a more applied level, GEBA provides the basis for engineering applications in the context of solar power generation, water management, agricultural production and tourism. GEBA is publicly accessible through the internet via http://www.geba.ethz.ch.

全球能量平衡档案馆（Global Energy Balance Archive，GEBA）是用于集中存储全球地表实测能量通量的数据库，由瑞士苏黎世联邦理工学院（ETH Zurich）维护。本文详细记述了2017版GEBA数据集的现状，展示了全新的网页界面与用户访问方式，并梳理了GEBA数据在各类科研应用中的科学影响力。GEBA始终处于持续扩充与更新状态，其2017版包含约50万条月平均数据条目，涵盖全球2500个观测站点的多种地表能量平衡组分。该数据库收录了15种地表能量通量组分的观测数据，其中应用最广泛的观测项为入射至地球表面的短波辐射（总辐射）。诸多历史观测序列的时长可达数十年。GEBA的月度数据来源多样，包括圣彼得堡世界辐射数据中心（World Radiation Data Centre，WRDC）、各国气象服务机构、不同研究网络（BSRN、ARM、SURFRAD）、同行评议期刊论文、项目与数据报告，以及个人交流获取的资料。数据库会对数据集开展质量检查以排查粗差。GEBA在诸多科研场景中发挥了关键作用，例如全球能量平衡的量化研究、异常大气短波吸收的相关讨论，以及被称为"全球变暗"与"全球变亮"的全球辐射年代际变化检测工作。GEBA还被广泛用于气候模型与卫星反演地表通量产品的验证评估。在更偏向实际应用的层面，GEBA为太阳能发电、水资源管理、农业生产与旅游业等领域的工程应用提供了数据基础。用户可通过互联网公开访问GEBA数据库，访问网址为http://www.geba.ethz.ch。