Daily Solar Radiation Model Description

The Bureau of Meteorology currently runs a computer model which produces estimates of the total amount of solar radiation that reaches the earth's surface in a day called "daily global solar exposure". For each location on the surface of the earth, an energy budget calculation is made using hourly visible radiation information i.e. radiances from the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite, MTSAT-1R.

This process involves calculation of instantaneous downward irradiance (radiative fluxes) at the ground every hour in real time over Australia using the hourly MTSAT-1R visible data, as well as hourly cloud albedos. The hourly irradiances are then integrated during each evening to give daily insolation totals in megajoules per square metre, i.e. "daily global solar exposure".

The model's horizontal resolution is set at values appropriate for the natural variability of insolation and population density in different parts of Australia. The gridded data covering Australia (for which the colour map is a graphical representation) has resolution intervals at 6 km.

The accuracy of the model's daily estimates of insolation is estimated by comparison with independent measurement by Bureau ground instruments. These solar exposure values, derived from images from the MTSAT-1R satellite, are of slightly lower quality than those that were available here prior to 22 May 2003, which were derived from the GMS-5 satellite. This is due to the difference in the characteristics of the MTSAT-1R imager as compared to GMS-5.

The Bureau expects to be able to improve the accuracy of the satellite exposure estimates as the MTSAT-1R characteristics become better understood and processing systems are improved. Users will be advised on this website of improvements.

Solar exposure estimates are important for a wide range of applications, mainly in the agricultural and to a lesser extent engineering sectors, and in research. Examples of use include:

• monitoring plant growth and disease control;
• evaporation and irrigation;
• architecture and building design e.g. power station condensor cooling systems;
• power generation;
• calculation of water requirements for crops;
• solar heating system design and use;
• skin cancer research;
• research into coral growth;
• weather and climate prediction models;
• solar powered car races.

Solar radiation data can potentially be provided in a variety of forms to suit these applications. Currently the satellite-derived data is available as daily colour maps, daily grid files or daily point values at any location in Australia. The schedule of updates is available here.

Outages

Satellite problems occasionally mean that the solar radiation data are not available. During an outage the grid files are generated and provided but missing data are flagged with the special value of -99.99.

Data are unavailable for 12/11/2009 and from 16/11/2009 onwards, owing to problems with the MTSAT-1R satellite.

References

1. Crowder, R. B., 1995: Wonders of the Weather. Australian Government Publishing Service Canberra.
   (General introduction to solar energy budget for the Earth.)
2. Gautier, C., Diak, G., Masse, S., 1980: A Simple Model to Estimate the Incident Solar Radiation at the Surface from GOES Satellite Data. J. of Appl. Meter. 19 1005-1012.
   (Basic method for calculating surface solar radiation from satellite data.)
3. Weymouth, G., Le Marshall, J., 1994: An Operational System to Estimate Insolation over the Australian Region. Proc. Pacific Ocean Remote Sensing Conference 443-449.
   (The description of the model used to calculate the solar radiation over Australia.)
4. Weymouth, G., Le Marshall, J. F., 2001, Estimation of daily surface solar exposure using GMS-5 stretched-VISSR observations: The system and basic results, Australian Meteorological Magazine, 50, 263-278.