Do modelled or satellite-based estimates of surface solar irradiance accurately describe its temporal variability?

Bengulescu, Marc; Blanc, Philippe; Boilley, Alexandre; Wald, Lucien

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-14-35-2017

Articles | Volume 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-14-35-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-14-35-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14

21 Feb 2017

| 21 Feb 2017

Do modelled or satellite-based estimates of surface solar irradiance accurately describe its temporal variability?

Marc Bengulescu, Philippe Blanc, Alexandre Boilley, and Lucien Wald

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-14-35-2017-supplement

Data sets

ERA-Interim Project European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts https://doi.org/10.5065/D6CR5RD9

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_rad_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-Averaged,Single-Level,Assimilation,Radiation Diagnostics V5.12.4 Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) https://doi.org/10.5067/Q9QMY5PBNV1T

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service The European Earth Observation Pogramme Global Monitoring for Environment and Security GMES https://doi.org/10.17616/R3TW53

User’s guide to the MACC-RAD services on solar energy radiation resources C. Hoyer-Klick, M. Lefèvre, M. Schroedter-Homscheidt, and L. Wald https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.5016.7521

World Radiation Data Centre World Radiation Data Centre https://doi.org/10.17616/R3N30Q

Model code and software

Ensemble empirical mode decomposition: a noise-assisted data analysis method Z. Wu and N. E. Huang https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793536909000047

On the computational complexity of the empirical mode decom- position algorithm Y.-H. Wang, C.-H. Yeh, H.-W. V. Young, K. Hu, and M.-T. Lo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physa.2014.01.020

Improved complete ensemble EMD: A suitable tool for biomedical signal processing M. A. Colominas, G. Schlotthauer, and M. E. Torres https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bspc.2014.06.009

Short summary

This study investigates the characteristic time-scales of variability found in long-term time-series of daily means of surface solar irradiance (SSI). Estimates of SSI from satellite-derived HelioClim-3 and radiation products from ERA-Interim and MERRA-2 re-analyses are compared to WRDC measurements. It is found that HelioClim-3 renders a more accurate picture of the variability found in ground measurements, not only globally, but also with respect to individual characteristic time-scales.