Release of the new Surface Solar Radiation Data Set - Heliosat (SARAH)

SARAH is based on the observations of the MVIRI and SEVIRI instruments onboard the geostationary Meteosat satellites and provides climatological data of the surface irradiance (SIS), the surface direct normalized irradiance (DNI) and the effective cloud albedo (CAL). The data are available from 1983 to 2013 as monthly, daily, and hourly averages and cover the region ±65° longitude and ±65° latitude (see figures) on a 0.05° x 0.05° regular longitude/latitude grid. The accuracy of the data has been determined against surface reference measurements; for the monthly averages the accuracy is 5.5 W/m² (SIS) and 17.5 W/m² (DNI). The temporal stability has been substantially improved compared to the previous CM SAF surface radiation data set (Posselt et al., 2012). Further information can be found in the documentation of SARAH.

Figure: (left) Multi-year average and (right) linear decadal trend of the surface solar radiation (SIS) from SARAH. Source: CM SAF

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/SARAH/V001
All products are now available for ordering via CM SAF Web User Interface. For more information contact our User Help Desk.

Documentation
Product User Manual (PUM)
Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD)
Validation Report (VALRep)

Related Publications
Posselt, R., R. W. Müller, R. Stöckli, and J. Trentmann, 2012: Remote sensing of solar surface radiation for climate monitoring - the CM-SAF retrieval in international comparison. Remote Sensing of Environment, 118, 186-198.
Müller, R., T. Behrendt, A. Hammer, and A. Kemper, 2012: A New Algorithm for the Satellite-Based Retrieval of Solar Surface Irradiance in Spectral Bands. Remote Sensing, 4, 622-647.
Müller, R., U. Pfeifroth, C Träger-Chatterjee, J. Trentmann, R. Cremer: Digging the METEOSAT treasure - 3 decades of solar surface radiation and effective cloud albedo. manuscript submitted for publication in Remote Sensing, 2015

JT / Feb2015