This study examines the following question: Are the recently available climate data sets consistent with each other in describing the atmospheric energy budget? If they are not, what is the sign of the systematic bias and how large is it? The atmospheric radiative cooling in this budget analysis is derived from satellite measurements of radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and satellite-algorithm products at the surface. Atmospheric transports are derived from the National Centers for Environmental Protection/National Center for Atmospheric Research and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis products. Surface turbulent heat fluxes are derived from products on the basis of Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Sets and reanalysis. Spatial and temporal averaging is performed to reduce random uncertainties in each data set. It is found that these data sets result in an unbalanced atmospheric budget with a residual of 20 W m-2 when averaged from 50¿N to 50¿S. The sign and magnitude of this systematic bias are shown to be consistent with the recently debated insufficient absorption of solar radiation in the atmosphere. ¿ 1999 American Geophysical Union