Generation of daylight reference years for two European cities with different climate: Athens, Greece and Bratislava, Slovakia

In this work, daylight reference years (DRYs), based on daylight and solar radiation measurements, are designed for two European cities, Athens, Greece and Bratislava, Slovakia, by using the Danish method, the Festa–Ratto technique and the Modified Sandia National Laboratories methodology. The data basis consists of 5-minute values of global and diffuse horizontal illuminance, global and diffuse horizontal irradiance, zenith luminance and solar altitude as well as of daily values of sunshine duration for 5 years for Athens and 8 years for Bratislava. Moreover, Linke's turbidity factor, luminous turbidity factor and relative sunshine duration are calculated and utilized. Then, for each DRY, the predominant sky-luminance distributions over Athens and Bratislava are identified, by using the methodology of Kittler et al., who corresponded the main sky conditions to 15 theoretical sky standards in diagrams of the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse horizontal illuminance against solar altitude.For both cities the three aforementioned methods do not create identical DRYs. Despite the differences, the sky types defined for each of the two places seem not to depend on the choice of DRY. The predominant sky standard, for all of them, is a cloudless, polluted sky with a broad solar corona for Athens and an overcast sky with slight brightening towards the sun as well as very clear sky with low atmospheric turbidity for Bratislava. However, the selection of the DRY, which represents best the daylight conditions, is necessary for studies in saving energy in buildings. The DRY, which is created by the Modified Sandia National Laboratories method, is chosen for most cases, while the one created by the Danish method is also useful on certain occasions.     

Sensitivity analysis of climatic parameters for sky classification

Climatic variables are frequently used as weighting factors to indicate the degree of clearness for interpreting sky patterns. However, such important parameters are not always widely available and their criteria to define a sky condition are not clear-cut. In addition, certain variables may be more effective than the others in terms of sky identification. This paper studies the capability of various daylight parameters, namely zenith luminance, global, direct-beam and sky-diffuse illuminance, and solar altitude for categorizing the 15 International Commission on Illumination (CIE) standard skies. A new form of artificial neural networks called probabilistic neural network (PNN) which is a powerful technique for pattern recognition was used for the analysis. The findings suggested that the PNN is an appropriate tool when a number of climatic parameters of various criteria for differentiating sky standards are employed, and the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse illuminance (L _z/D _v) and solar altitude (?? _s) are respectively the most and the least significant input parameters for discriminating between the 15 CIE skies.     

Measured Spectra of Solar Ultraviolet Irradiances at Athens Basin, Greece

Summary From a data archive of spectral energy distribution of global and diffuse solar irradiances measured in Athens during a field experiment, the impacts of changes in solar zenith angle, site altitude, and gaseous-aerosol pollutants loading, on spectral composition of ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the ground, has been determined for cloudless conditions. Measurements of spectral energy distribution of ultraviolet irradiance showed that in urban atmospheres there is a significant altitude effect on spectral UV irradiances which is more pronounced on shorter wavelength UVB than on longer wavelength UVA. In particular the largest attenuation in the UVB band, produced by the altitude effect, between the non-urban site of Mt. Hymettus and the urban site of Athens Museum, was about 27%; while the corresponding attenuation in the UVA band reached 20%. Correspondingly, the respective attenuation caused by altitude effect in the diffuse UVB band was 12%; whereas the altitude effect increases UVA band to as much as 9% between the summit of Mt. Hymettus and the urban site of Athens Museum. Depletion of UV irradiances by the urban atmosphere of downtown Athens was strongly related to aerosol-gaseous pollutants loading. The spectral UV measurements were found to be sensitive to both, changes in solar zenith angle and atmospheric turbidity. The spectral ratio of diffuse-to-direct irradiance critically depends on both solar zenith angle and aerosol-gaseous pollutants loading, increasing rapidly toward the shorter wavelengths. Finally, the hypothesis that the increased levels of aerosol-gaseous pollutants may act as a filter to the transfer of UV energy to the ground is supported, by the limited set of spectral measurements used in the present work. Received June 16, 1996 Revised April 18, 1997     

Ultraviolet sky radiance distributions of translucent overcast skies

Summary The diffuse sky radiation component in the ultraviolet wavelengths is often at least 50% of the global irradiance under clear skies, and is the dominant component of ultraviolet global radiation under translucent overcast skies. The distribution of sky radiance was measured in a rural area and modeled for wavelength bands of ultraviolet-B (UVB, 280–320 nm) and ultraviolet-A (UVA, 320–400 nm). Sky radiance measurements were made during the summer of 1993 over a wide range of solar zenith angles using radiance sensors mounted on a hand-operated hemispherical rotation mount. UVB irradiance measurements were also made during each scan. Since the ratio of measured irradiance under overcast skies and that predicted for clear skies was not correlated with cloud base height, opaque cloud fraction, or solar zenith angle, it was concluded that the scattering from the clouds dominated the global irradiance, and this scattering was relatively unaffected by the scattering off opaque clouds in the translucent atmosphere.Analysis of the translucent overcast sky UVA and UVB radiance measurements using a semi-empirical distribution model showed that the spectral influences on multiple scattering, single scattering, and horizon brightening components of the distributions agreed with basic atmospheric radiation theory. The best model used solar zenith, the sky zenith, and the scattering angle with resultant coefficient of determination values of 0.62 and 0.25 for the UVA and UVB respectively. The developed equations can be applied directly to the diffuse sky irradiance on the horizontal to provide radiance distributions for the sky.With 6 Figures     

A new kind of cloudy sky model to compute instantaneous values of diffuse and global solar irradiance

Summary A model that uses two parameters to describe the state of the sky is presented. The parameters are the total cloud amount and a new two-value parameter – the sunshine number – stating whether the sun is covered or uncovered by clouds. Regression formulae to compute instantaneous cloudy sky global and diffuse irradiance on a horizontal surface are proposed. Fitting these relationships to Romanian data shows low bias errors for global radiation but larger errors for diffuse radiation. The model’s accuracy is significantly higher than one based on total cloud amount alone. The model is used to generate time-series of solar radiation data. A first approximate relationship, neglecting auto-correlation of the sunshine number, is used in the computations. Received July 17, 2001 Revised November 7, 2001     

Spectral radiance and sky luminance in Antarctica: a case study

Summary Sky luminance and spectral radiance has been characterised at Neumayer, Antarctica for selected situations during the austral summer 2003/04. Luminance has also been measured at Boulder, Colorado, USA in June 2003. The high reflectivity of the surface (albedo) in Antarctica, reaching values up to 100% in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible part of the solar spectrum due to snow cover, modifies the radiation field considerably when compared to mid-latitudes. A dependence of luminance and spectral radiance on solar zenith angle (SZA) and surface albedo has been identified. For snow and cloudless sky, the horizon luminance exceeds the zenith luminance by as much as a factor of 8.2 and 7.6 for a SZA of 86° and 48°, respectively. In contrast, over grass this factor amounts to 4.9 for a SZA of 86° and a factor of only 1.4 for a SZA of 48°. Thus, a snow surface with high albedo can enhance horizon brightening compared to grass by a factor of 1.7 for low sun at a SZA of 86° and by a factor of 5 for high sun at a SZA of 48°. For cloudy cases, zenith luminance and radiance exceed the cloudless value by a factor of 10 due to multiple scattering between the cloud base and high albedo surface. Measurements of spectral radiance show increased horizon brightening for increasing wavelengths and generally confirm the findings for luminance. Good agreement with model results is found for some cases; however there are also large deviations between measured and modelled values especially in the infrared. These deviations can only partly be explained by measurement uncertainties; to completely resolve the differences between model and measurement further studies need to be performed, which will require an improvement of modelling the spectral radiance. From the present study it can be concluded that a change in albedo conditions, which is predicted as a consequence of climate change, will significantly change the radiation conditions in polar regions as well.     

我国住宅区日照标准下墙面晴天太阳辐射分析

为研究我国不同地区住宅通过垂直墙面上的窗口实际接受到的太阳辐射量空间分布特征,以卡斯特洛夫公式为基础,建立了各朝向墙面晴天太阳总辐射和直接辐射小时总量的计算方案。使用水汽压和海拔高度拟合了公式中的参数,计算了我国各地满足国家标准对住宅间距要求下的水平面和垂直墙面辐射量,并绘制了分布图。研究发现:大寒日各朝向墙面晴天最大2 h辐射量空间分布受纬度和大气透明度共同影响,青藏高原为全国高值中心,川黔地区为低值中心。在我国东部地区,与水平面辐射量随纬度增加而降低的规律相反,同样是辐射量最大的2 h日照时间,纬度越高的地区南墙面接受的太阳辐射量就越大。与南墙相比,东、西墙面接收的最大2 h辐射量明显偏小,不能发挥阳光对健康和卫生的作用。上述结果表明,从大寒日建筑底层南墙面接收的最大2 h辐射量上看,适当放宽北方地区日照间距标准具有一定可行性。     

Luminous efficacy of global solar radiation on a horizontal surface for overcast and intermediate skies

Summary  In the first part of this research two models for the luminous efficacy of global solar radiation on horizontal surfaces and overcast skies have been developed. The first of these models is developed using a method similar to that proposed by Littlefair (1988). The second model has been obtained from the corresponding illuminance and irradiance models in an, apparently, new approach to the subject. In the second part of this research, a model for the luminous efficacy of global solar radiation for intermediate skies and horizontal surfaces is developed from the corresponding illuminance and irradiance models. The model for intermediate skies is given by the same mathematical function as that of the analogous model for overcast skies, and only the empirical constants change. In all the cases the only independent variables used are the solar altitude and the brightness index. The models proposed in the present paper have been statistically tested, and their prediction accuracy compared with other models available in the scientific literature. Received June 26, 2000 Revised December 9, 2000     

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.     

我国散射辐射的气候计算方法及其分布特征

使用全国６４个日射站的散射辐射资料，首先计算与建立了各地１月、４月、７月和１０月的月散射辐射值与总云量、日照百分率之间的相关系数与经验关系式，并对经验关系式进行了方差检验。该经验关系式为：Ｄ＝Ｑ０（ｓ１＋０．０１）（ａ＋ｂＮ）。应用该经验关系式和２００多个地面气象站的资料，计算了各地的１月、４月、７月和１０月的散射辐射值。最后对我国四季散射辐射的分布及其年变化作简要的分析。     

Analysis of 40 year records of solar radiation data in Shanghai,Nanjing and Hangzhou in Eastern China

Summary In this paper, we analyze global, direct and diffuse solar radiation data on a horizontal surface observed at stations in Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou for the period of 1961 to 2000. The data include monthly averages of the daily clearness index (G/G₀: the ratio of global to extraterrestrial solar radiation) and the diffuse fraction (D/G: the ratio of diffuse to global solar radiation. The present study has processed and analyzed the data, including variables or statistics of mean, and annual monthly and daily total, the diurnal variation and the frequency of daily totals of global solar radiation. A correlation between daily values of clearness index and diffuse fraction is obtained and recommended correlation equations were calculated. The annual variations and trend of yearly series are analyzed for daily global, direct and diffuse radiation on a horizontal surface, as well as for daily clearness index and diffuse fraction in Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou. The results show: 1) the east China is characterized by a decrease in global and direct radiation and a little increase in diffuse radiation and a negative linear relationship was obtained between clearness index and diffuse fraction. 2) The annual variations of global, direct and diffuse radiation for Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou are similar with relative low values of global and direct radiation in June due to the Meiyu period. 3) The acceleration of air pollution and decrease of relative sunshine are the possible causes for the decrease of global and direct radiation.     

A simplified but accurate spectral solar irradiance model

Summary ¶The paper deals with the computation of solar energy available in a specific location. First, a new formula describing the relation between global solar irradiation and the duration of bright sunshine is established. The analysis of its use shows that global solar clear sky irradiance models are essential tools for daily computation of global irradiation. An integrated spectral atmospheric transmittance model is presented, it can be used to compute beam and diffuse clear sky irradiance for all applications where broadband solar energy input is needed. Since it is desirable to use simplified estimation methods for many applications, a parametric global solar irradiance model, derived from the spectral model, is also presented. This model needs only surface meteorological data as input. The influence of the averaging method used for the input parameters on the model accuracy is evaluated. Comparison of model results with the measurements shows an acceptable level of accuracy with the new model. Finally, an application of daily global solar energy computation is presented.Received May 17, 2002; revised October 14, 2002; accepted February 11, 2003 Published online September 10, 2003     

福建省散射辐射的计算方法及其分布特征

提出了综合考虑日照百分率和总云量来计算散射辐射的公式。将散射辐射Ｄ除以日照百分率Ｓ１，称其为净散射辐射。同时求出各月及年的净散射辐射与当地天文辐射的比值和总云量的相关系数ｒ。各月与年的相关系数均为正值，且ｒ均大于ｒ０．０１。在此基础上建立计算散射辐射的经验公式：Ｄ＝Ｓ１Ｑｏｅ＾ａ＋ｂＮ，式中Ｄ为散射辐射；Ｓ１为日照百分率；Ｑｏ为天文辐射；Ｎ为总云量；ａ和ｂ为经验系数。使用该经验公式求得福建省所有市     

Calibration of a three‐component angular distribution model of sky radiance

Abstract

A three‐component (isotropic, circumsolar and horizon‐brightening) model of the angular distribution of sky (short‐wave) radiance has been tested and validated against a data base of measured sky radiance. The data base encompasses cloud cover 0.0 to 1.0 and solar zenith angles 30 to 80°. Empirical constants have been derived for the model enabling the prediction of sky radiances for any sky condition.     

New approach to measure the stability of the solar radiative regime

This paper focuses on different ways of characterizing the solar radiative regime of a day and the stability of this regime. The days may be stratified in classes of cloud shade, observed total cloud cover amount, daily averaged clearness index, and fractal dimension of the solar global irradiance signal. A new Boolean parameter related to solar irradiance fluctuation is defined, namely the sunshine stability number. The time averaged value of the sunshine stability number is used for the characterization of the radiative regime stability during a given time interval. Ranking the days from the view-point of the stability of their radiative regime is performed by using the daily average value of the sunshine stability number and appropriately defined values of disorder and complexity, respectively. Measurements performed in the Romanian town of Timisoara (latitude 45°46?? N, longitude 21°25?? E and 85?m altitude above mean sea level) are used here. They refer to time series of global and diffuse solar irradiance recorded at 15-s time interval between sunrise and sunset during all the days in 2009.     

A new approach to identify the sensitivity and importance of physical parameters combination within numerical models using the Lund–Potsdam–Jena (LPJ) model as an example

Daily global solar irradiation (R _s) is one of the main inputs in environmental modeling. Because of the lack of its measuring facilities, high-quality and long-term data are limited. In this research, R _s values were estimated based on measured sunshine duration and cloud cover of our synoptic meteorological stations in central and southern Iran during 2008, 2009, and 2011. Clear sky solar irradiation was estimated from linear regression using extraterrestrial solar irradiation as the independent variable with normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) of 4.69 %. Daily R _s was calibrated using measured sunshine duration and cloud cover data under different sky conditions during 2008 and 2009. The 2011 data were used for model validation. According to the results, in the presence of clouds, the R _s model using sunshine duration data was more accurate when compared with the model using cloud cover data (NRMSE = 11. 69 %). In both models, with increasing sky cloudiness, the accuracy decreased. In the study region, more than 92 % of sunshine durations were clear or partly cloudy, which received close to 95 % of total solar irradiation. Hence, it was possible to estimate solar irradiation with a good accuracy in most days with the measurements of sunshine duration.     

Intelligent urban forms (IUF) a new climate-concerned,urban planning strategy

Summary Adaptive geometrical configurations are presented, which aim to create intelligent urban forms, and which include screening methods applicable to the linear- and grid-type building layouts. They are especially suitable for mid-latitude cities characterized by seasonally swinging climates which necessitate heating in winter and cooling in summer. The screens are envisaged as shading devices in the summer blocking the incoming solar radiation during day-time (that is, on-position), while being removed at night to enhance nocturnal radiative cooling (that is, off-position). In winter they are assumed to be in off-position during sunshine hours to promote the access of solar radiation and in on-position at night to obstruct the sky energy sink and reduce radiant heat losses. Their implications for the urban street canyon climate and the thermal performance of the built environment are simulated using the cluster thermal time constant (CTTC) model. The diurnal variation of both the ambient air temperature and net radiant flux within the urban canopy layer serve as criteria by which the climatetempering effectiveness of the screens is assessed.With 9 Figures     

Case studies of spectral atmospheric transmittance in the ultraviolet and visible regions in Athens, Greece: I. Total transmittance

This work accounts for an investigation about the diurnal variation of total spectral transmittance of solar irradiance under dominant wind conditions as case studies. Such a work is carried out in Athens for the first time. The spectral transmittance values estimated were derived using ground-based spectral measurements of beam irradiance in the range 310–575 nm (UV and VIS). The data were recorded by a system consisting of an automatic solar tracker and a spectrometer. All data were recorded under clear-sky conditions in the city center of Athens and the spectral total atmospheric transmittance was estimated towards zenith to avoid optical mass effects. The comparison reveals that the total atmospheric transmittance is higher under the influence of strong Etesian compared to sea-breeze conditions. The influence of low-pressure systems also plays a depollution role in the basin. Various features of diurnal variation are discussed with respect to emission sources, topographic peculiarities and wind pattern.