The International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Initiative-I 1-degree 1987–1988 data were used to drive a land surface model (LSM) to simulate global surface energy budgets. Simulated surface heat fluxes show remarkable spatial variability and seem to capture well their annual and interannual variability. A shift of maximum evaporation across the equator is more closely related to the seasonal shifting of precipitation pattern than to surface radiation changes. The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis did not reflect this shift, presumably due to its dominant rainfall maximum in the Southern Hemisphere. To assess the “reliability” of these fields, both Global Soil Wetness Project (GSWP) and reanalysis were verified against observations, at two sites. Monthly mean ISLSCP forcing conditions agree fairly well with observations, but its precipitation is usually lower during spring and summer. Low summer GSWP evaporation may be due to low precipitation and incorrect specification of vegetation and soil conditions. The reanalysis had larger seasonal variability than GSWP and observations, and overestimated summer heat fluxes because of its large rainfall and surface radiation. Despite uncertainty in ISLSCP data, an LSM with a modest treatment of vegetation was able to capture reasonably well the seasonal variations in surface heat fluxes at global scales. With some caution, these types of simulations can be used as “pseudo-observations” to evaluate climate-model simulations and to investigate global energy budgets. For the next phase of ISLSCP data development, higher resolution data, which can reflect local heterogeneity of vegetation and soil characteristics, include more rain gauge data are highly desirable to improve model simulations.