Modelling direct,diffuse, and total solar radiation for cloudless days

A simple form of solar radiation model was analysed for cloudless days for Goose, Nfld., Port Hardy, B.C., and Edmonton, Alta. Performance for daily values of total solar radiation was satisfactory; however, data for Goose indicated that the model over‐and under‐estimated the direct and diffuse components of solar radiation, respectively. Modifications, including solving for an aerosol parameter k and substituting 0.6 forward scattering instead of the more commonly used 0.5, improved model performance for direct and diffuse radiation.