Use of cookies
Cookies help us to provide our services. By using our website you agree that we can use cookies. Read more about our Privacy Policy and visit the following link: Privacy Policy
Consistent surface solar radiation products now available from 1983 to present
The CM SAF is happy to announce the release of surface solar radiation data for 2016 and 2017 based on the methodology used in the SARAH-2 climate data record: http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/SARAH/V002_01
The SARAH-2.1 data record thus extends the SARAH-2 data record temporally. It provides spatially (0.05°) and temporally (30-min) high resolution surface solar radiation data from 1983 to 2017. It is derived from the Meteosat satellite series and covers Europe, Africa, parts of South America and the surrounding ocean areas.
Six surface solar radiation parameters are provided in SARAH-2.1: the global radiation (SIS, also known as the surface irradiance), the direct radiation (SID), the direct normalized radiation (DNI, i.e., the radiation through a horizontal plate perpendicular to the sun), the sunshine duration (SDU), the spectrally-resolved surface irradiance (SRI), and the effective cloud albedo (CAL).
Starting from January 2018, the CM SAF is also producing consistent surface solar radiation data with a timeliness of 5 days (15 days for sunshine duration):
https://wui.cmsaf.eu/safira/action/viewICDRDetails?acronym=SARAH_V002_ICDR
This so-called Interim Climate Data Record (ICDR) has now become ‘operational’ and consistently extends the SARAH-2/2.1 climate data records in time.
They allow, e.g., operational applications including climate monitoring. The SARAH-ICDR data record includes the global radiation (SIS), the direct radiation (SID), the direct normalized radiation (DNI) and the sunshine duration (SDU). With the addition of the sunshine duration (daily and monthly sums) and the 30-min instantaneous surface radiation data, the portfolio of the SARAH-ICDR now corresponds to the SARAH-2.1 surface radiation data records with consistent algorithms and spatial and temporal resolutions. Following the successful Operational Readiness Review and approval by CM SAF steering group, the products DNI, SID, SIS and SDU have now been declared “operational”.
Source: CM SAF
Figure 1 shows the anomaly (percentage) of the annual sunshine duration in 2018 based on the SARAH-2.1 climate data record as reference and the SARAH-ICDR data from 2018. The extreme annual sunshine duration in parts of Northern Europe is clearly visible in the satellite data, while about average sunshine duration was observed in Southern Europe.
JT / Jan2019