Evaluation of Ground-Based Models for Estimating Surface Albedo with In-Situ Radiometric Measurements across China

Gang Chen,Jinming Chen,Shixiang Gu,Mi Zhou,Lei Wu

doi:10.3390/atmos13030412

Abstract

Surface albedo is an essential parameter in many solar radiation applications. Although several models are available, it remains debatable whether they are applicable to other locations. Using long-term daily measurements of radiation acquired by observational networks in China, this study examined the applicability of six existing albedo models: Ineichen model (IeM), Gueymard model (GM), Dong model (DeM), Iziomon-Mayer model (IMM), Morton model (MM), and Zhou model (ZeM). The evaluation results of model performance through statistical analysis showed that among the available ground albedo models, ZeM had the best overall performance at 12 selected stations, IeM was shown to provide acceptable estimations for locations where albedo records are readily available. The statistical results of individual station have shownthat the number of input parameters is not the only key factor for determining the predictive performance of ground albedo models. In other words, a simple model has potential for accurate estimation of ground albedo with appropriate model parameters. Therefore, the simple two-parameter DeM was selected to re-calibrate with in-situ radiometric measurements, which can be adopted as a surrogate for ZeM to predict surface albedo in China.

Highlights

Increasing application of solar energy in various respects for environmental and economic proposes has highlighted the importance of reliable estimation of solar radiation incident on a target surface [1–3], which consists primarily of direct, diffuse, and reflected components [4]
Ineichen model (IeM) produced acceptable estimations of surface albedo at all selected stations with mean mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 4.82% ranging from 3.02% (Sanya) to 9.28% (Lhasa)
I.e., Gueymard model (GM), DeM, Iziomon-Mayer model (IMM), and Morton model (MM), the MAPE values were in the range 3.35–34.58%, 6.55–43.03%, 6.11–52.55%, and 6.23–48.98%, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Increasing application of solar energy in various respects for environmental and economic proposes has highlighted the importance of reliable estimation of solar radiation incident on a target surface [1–3], which consists primarily of direct, diffuse, and reflected components [4]. Owing to a lack of observational data, pioneering researchers (e.g., Liu and Jordan [10]) usually quantified the reflected component of radiation in terms of surface albedo, defined as a fraction of the accessible global solar radiation [11]. This alternative has been used widely in subsequent radiation-related studies

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Conclusion