Abstract
Solar radiation incident at the Earth’s surface is an essential driver of the energy exchange between the atmosphere and the surface and is also an important input variable in the research on the surface eco-hydrological process. The reanalysis solar radiation dataset is characterized by a long time series and wide spatial coverage and is used in the research of large-scale eco-hydrological processes. Due to certain errors in their production process of the reanalysis of solar radiation products, reanalysis products should be evaluated before application. In this study, three global solar-radiation reanalysis products (ERA-Interim; JRA-55; and NCEP-DOE) in different temporal scales and climate zones were evaluated using surface solar-radiation observations from the National Meteorological Information Center of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA, Beijing, China) and the Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA, Zürich, Switzerland) from 2000 to 2009. All reanalysis products (ERA-Interim; JRA-55; and NCEP-DOE) overestimated with an annual bias of 14.86 W/m2, 22.61 W/m2, and 31.85 W/m2; monthly bias of 15.17 W/m2, 21.29 W/m2, and 36.91 W/m2; and seasonal bias of 15.08 W/m2, 21.21 W/m2, and 36.69 W/m2, respectively. In different Köppen climate zones, the annual solar radiation of ERA-Interim performed best in cold regions with a bias of 10.30 W/m2 and absolute relative error (ARE) of 8.98%. However, JRA-55 and NCEP-DOE showed the best performance in tropical regions with a bias of 20.08 W/m2 and −0.12 W/m2, and ARE of 11.00% and 9.68%, respectively. Overall, through the evaluations across different temporal and spatial scales, the rank of the three reanalysis products in order was the ERA-Interim, JRA-55, and NCEP-DOE. In addition, based on the evaluation, we analyzed the relationship between the error (ARE) of the reanalysis products and cloud cover, aerosol, and water vapor, which significantly influences solar radiation and we found that cloud was the main cause for errors in the three solar radiation reanalysis products. The above can provide a reference for the application and downscaling of the three solar radiation reanalysis products.
Highlights
Solar radiation is the main energy source on the Earth’s surface and the main driving force for global atmospheric, hydrologic, ecological, and biological processes [1,2,3]
Solar radiation from ERA-Interim, JRA-55, and NCEP-DOE from 2000–2009 were evaluated using 804 global ground stations that were selected by quality control files from the GEBA and CMA, respectively
The annual, seasonal, and monthly solar radiation were evaluated at a global scale and different climate zones, respectively
Summary
Solar radiation is the main energy source on the Earth’s surface and the main driving force for global atmospheric, hydrologic, ecological, and biological processes [1,2,3]. The evaluations of the solar radiation reanalysis datasets in the above-mentioned studies are from aspects of monthly and annual bias at a regional scale, and few are for exploring the performance of reanalysis data from the global scale and different climate zones. We evaluated three solar radiation reanalysis datasets using global ground observations, and the errors were assessed from different temporal scales (monthly, seasonal, and annual) and in different climate zones (Köppen’s climatic zones) to provide reasonable suggestions for the application of solar radiation reanalysis products at different temporal and spatial scales or climate zones.
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