Long-Term, Continuous Four-Component Solar Radiation Time Series from Measurement Sites in Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, Southwest Idaho

Author(s):  
James McNamara
2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús García ◽  
Iván Portnoy ◽  
Ricardo Vasquez Padilla ◽  
Marco E. Sanjuan

Variation in direct solar radiation is one of the main disturbances that any solar system must handle to maintain efficiency at acceptable levels. As known, solar radiation profiles change due to earth's movements. Even though this change is not manipulable, its behavior is predictable. However, at ground level, direct solar radiation mainly varies due to the effect of clouds, which is a complex phenomenon not easily predictable. In this paper, dynamic solar radiation time series in a two-dimensional (2D) spatial domain are obtained using a biomimetic cloud-shading model. The model is tuned and compared against available measurement time series. The procedure uses an objective function based on statistical indexes that allow extracting the most important characteristics of an actual set of curves. Then, a multi-objective optimization algorithm finds the tuning parameters of the model that better fit data. The results showed that it is possible to obtain responses similar to real direct solar radiation transients using the biomimetic model, which is useful for other studies such as testing control strategies in solar thermal plants.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 1617-1626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Mieslinger ◽  
Felix Ament ◽  
Kaushal Chhatbar ◽  
Richard Meyer

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Delia García ◽  
Emilio Cuevas ◽  
Omaira Elena García ◽  
Ramon Ramón ◽  
Pedro Miguel Romero-Campos ◽  
...  

Abstract. A 1-year intercomparison of classical and modern radiation and sunshine duration instruments has been performed at Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO) located in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) starting on July 17, 2014. We compare global solar radiation (GSR) records measured with a CM-21 pyranometer Kipp & Zonen, taken in the framework of the Baseline Surface Radiation Network, with those measured with a Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR), and a bimetallic pyranometer (PYR), and GSR estimated from sunshine duration performed by a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder (CS) and a Kipp & Zonen sunshine duration sensor (CSD). Given the GSR BSRN records are subject of strict quality controls (based on principles of physical limits and comparison with the LibRadtran model), they have been used as reference in the intercomparison study. We obtain an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of ~0.9 MJm2 (4 %) for GSR PYR and GSR MFRSR, 1.9 MJm2 (7 %) and 1.2 MJm2 (5 %) for GSR CS and GSR CSD, respectively. Factors such as temperature, fraction of the clear sky, relative humidity and the solar zenith angle have shown to moderately affect the GSR observations. As application of the methodology developed in this work, we have re-evaluated the GSR time series between 1977 and 1991 obtained with two PYRs at IZO. By comparing with coincident GSR estimates from SD observations, we probe the high consistency of those measurements and their temporal stability. These results demonstrate that 1) the continuous-basis intercomparison of different GSR techniques offers important diagnostics for identifying inconsistencies between GSR data records, and 2) the GSR measurements performed with classical and more simple instruments are consistent with more modern techniques and, thus, valid to recover GSR time series and complete worldwide distributed GSR data. The intercomparison and quality assessment of these different techniques have allowed to obtain a complete and consistent long-term global solar radiation series (1977–2015) at Izaña.


Solar Energy ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 152-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jędrzej S. Bojanowski ◽  
Anton Vrieling ◽  
Andrew K. Skidmore

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 3139-3150 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. García ◽  
E. Cuevas ◽  
O. E. García ◽  
V. E. Cachorro ◽  
P. Pallé ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper presents the reconstruction of the 80-year time series of daily global solar radiation (GSR) at the subtropical high-mountain Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO) located in Tenerife (The Canary Islands, Spain). For this purpose, we combine GSR estimates from sunshine duration (SD) data using the Ångström–Prescott method over the 1933/1991 period, and GSR observations directly performed by pyranometers between 1992 and 2013. Since GSR measurements have been used as a reference, a strict quality control has been applied based on principles of physical limits and comparison with LibRadtran model. By comparing with high quality GSR measurements, the precision and consistency over time of GSR estimations from SD data have been successfully documented. We obtain an overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.2% and an agreement between the variances of GSR estimations and GSR measurements within 92%. Nonetheless, this agreement significantly increases when the GSR estimation is done considering different daily fractions of clear sky (FCS). In that case, RMSE is reduced by half, to about 4.5%, when considering percentages of FCS > 40% (~ 90% of days in the testing period). Furthermore, we prove that the GSR estimations can monitor the GSR anomalies in consistency with GSR measurements and, then, can be suitable for reconstructing solar radiation time series. The reconstructed IZO GSR time series between 1933 and 2013 confirms change points and periods of increases/decreases of solar radiation at Earth's surface observed at a global scale, such as the early brightening, dimming and brightening. This fact supports the consistency of the IZO GSR time series presented in this work, which may be a reference for solar radiation studies in the subtropical North Atlantic region.


1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.Yusof Sulaiman ◽  
W.M. Hlaing oo ◽  
Mahdi Abd. Wahab ◽  
Z.Abidin Sulaiman

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 4191-4227 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. García ◽  
E. Cuevas ◽  
O. E. García ◽  
V. E. Cachorro ◽  
P. Pallé ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper presents the re-construction of the 80 year time series of daily global shortwave downward radiation (SDR) at the subtropical high-mountain Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO, Spain). For this purpose, we combine SDR estimates from sunshine duration (SD) data using the Ångström–Prescott method over the 1933/1991 period, and SDR observations directly performed by pyranometers between 1992 and 2013. Since SDR measurements have been used as a reference, a strict quality control has been applied, when it was not possible data have been re-calibrated by using the LibRadtran model. By comparing to high quality SDR measurements, the precision and consistency over time of SDR estimations from SD data have successfully been documented. We obtain a overall root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.2% and an agreement between the variances of SDR estimations and SDR measurements within 92% (correlation coefficient of 0.96). Nonetheless, this agreement significantly increases when the SDR estimation is done considering different daily fractions of clear sky (FCS). In that case, RMSE is reduced by half, up to about 4.5%, when considering percentages of FCS > 40% (90% of days in the testing period). Furthermore, we prove that the SDR estimations can monitor the SDR anomalies in consistency with SDR measurements and, then, can be suitable for re-constructing solar radiation time series. The re-constructed IZO global SDR time series between 1933 and 2013 confirms discontinuities and periods of increases/decreases of solar radiation at Earth's surface observed at a global scale, such as the early brightening, dimming and brightening. This fact supports the consistency of the IZO SDR time series presented in this work, which may be a reference for solar radiation studies in the subtropical North Atlantic region.


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