Estimation of Solar Energy Influx to the Sea in the Light of Fast Satellite Technique Development

Abstract

Solar radiation plays a fundamental role in the marine environment. It supplies the energy that drives thermodynamic and photochemical processes in the sea, including the heating of waters, their stratification and movement, and their evaporation, also the warming of the atmosphere, the photosynthesis of the organic matter essential for the maintenance of life and the functioning of marine ecosystems, and the photo-oxidation of marine pollutants (Dera & Woźniak, 2010). The amount of solar energy reaching the sea surface can be determined by means of direct measurements or calculations with the use of various models of different precision and complexity. Due to obvious reasons, systematic, direct measurements in the area of oceans and seas with the spatial resolution satisfactory for monitoring and analysis of several processes like the ones mentioned above, are impossible in practice. On the other hand, credibility of modelling strongly depends on model's input data – their quality and time resolution. The most difficult task in calculating the solar energy stream at the sea surface using a model is to obtain its momentary value. It is caused by the lack of precise information on the components of the Earth's atmosphere influencing the solar radiation along its way from the upper boundary to the sea surface. The most important of these components is the cloudiness but other parameters like aerosol optical thickness, the content of water vapour or ozone should also be taken into account.