A cloud layer‐sunshine model for estimating direct,diffuse and total solar radiation

A previous study (Suckling and Hay, 1976a) described a method for calculating hourly values of the direct and diffuse solar radiation for cloudless sky conditions. This paper presents an extension which incorporates the effects of clouds through the use of hourly values of cloud amount and type for up to four layers and hourly bright sunshine totals. The latter data provide a more accurate measure of the length of time the direct radiation of the sun is not attenuated by cloud. On an average, the cloud layer‐sunshine (CLS) model estimated daily total solar radiation at five Canadian locations to within ±15 per cent of the measured values. This was an improvement over an earlier model (Davies et al., 1975) based on cloud data alone, but the relative advantage, as well as the overall errors themselves, were diminished as the averaging period was increased to five and ten days. The CLS model has the additional advantage of calculating the separate direct and diffuse components of the total solar radiation.     

Some remarks on the stratospheric temperature for Fairbanks,Alaska, after the El Chichón Eruption

Abstract

The first substantial radiative effects of the El Chichón volcanic cloud were observed in Fairbanks in the winter of 1982/83. Winter is the time when stratospheric temperatures can vary widely owing to sudden stratospheric warmings, and interannual variations are large. Mean monthly temperatures of the stratosphere were analysed for the 50‐, 40‐, 30‐, 25‐, 20‐, 15‐, and 10‐mb levels, with the greatest density of the volcanic cloud expected to be around the 20‐mb level. For the four winter months, December 1982 to March 1983, an increase in temperature was observed. This increase was not only observed in Fairbanks, but also for two other stations (McGrath and Anchorage) close by, for which we also analysed the stratospheric temperatures.

Further, the interdiurnal variation of temperature (the radiosonde ascents are made at 0200 and 1400 local time) showed marked and significant increases for all three stations. This can be explained by the fact that during daytime the volcanic cloud is warmed by absorption of solar radiation, while at night no substantial temperature effect for this layer was detected.