Dependence of remote sensing accuracy of global horizontal irradiance at different scales on satellite sampling frequency. (15th November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tang, Wenjun; Li, Jun; Yang, Kun; Qin, Jun; Zhang, Guoqing; Wang, Yang
• Is Part Of: Solar energy. Volume 193(2019)
• Page Start: 597
• Page End: 603
• Publication Date: 2019-11-15
• Subjects: Surface solar radiation -- Observation frequency -- Himawari-8 -- Geostationary satellite; Solar energy -- Periodicals; Solar engines -- Periodicals; 621.47
• DOI: 10.1016/j.solener.2019.10.007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0038-092X

Abstract

Highlights: High temporal resolution GHI were estimated from satellite Himawari-8. The increased frequency of satellite observations improves accuracy of GHI estimates. Estimates at 10-min interval can capture rapid weather changes within an hour. Abstract: The emergence of new-generation geostationary satellites (such as Himawari-8 or FenYun-4) provides us an opportunity to obtain more accurate global horizontal irradiance (GHI) data. In this study, instantaneous GHI estimates (with a spatio-temporal resolution of 10 min and 5 km) are produced using the cloud products from the new-generation geostationary satellite Himawari-8 with a physically based algorithm. The hourly, daily, and monthly GHI estimates are aggregated using "snapshots" (or instantaneous estimates) at two different sampling frequencies (i.e., 1 h and 10 min), and validated against surface radiometry measurements collected in China. The root mean square errors (RMSE) for hourly, daily and monthly GHI estimates calculated using 1-h snapshots were 106.6, 27.9, and 17.7 W m −2, respectively, whereas those for hourly, daily and, monthly GHI calculated using 10-min snapshots decreased to 94.0, 24.0, and 16.6 W m −2, respectively. This result demonstrates that the accuracies of hourly, daily, and monthly GHI estimates are improved by increasing the frequency of satellite observations from 1 h (frequency of the previous-generation geostationary satellites) to 10 min (frequency of the new-generation geostationary satellites).