Estimating the atmospheric ozone transmission for solar radiation models

Accurate calculation of the solar radiation at the earth’s surface requires evaluation of the atmospheric ozone transmission. To use the existing methods one needs to know the atmospheric ozone amount. The serious lack of ozone data makes almost impossible the application of these methods in most of the world. In this paper a new method of estimating the overall ozone attenuation in the Northern Hemisphere is presented. Multiyear monthly latitudinal average ozone data are used. A daily ozone transmission function is proposed, and values of it are calculated for each latitudinal circle from 0° to 70°N at 10 longitude-degree intervals. By regression techniques parameterized expressions of the daily ozone transmission in the Northern Hemisphere are obtained as a function of the latitude. The model is applied to Athens, and the results are in excellent agreement with those obtained by extremely detailed calculations of the ozone transmission. The reliability of the model, under special regional ozone conditions, is investigated. Calculations for 67 locations in the Northern Hemisphere prove that the deviations do not exceed 1 percent. The influence of the year-by-year ozone variability is also examined, and the maximum deviation is found to be near 1.6 percent. The proposed model can be easily incoporated into solar radiation models in order to provide the ozone depletion at any place in the Northern Hemisphere where atmospheric ozone data are not available.