Abstract
Solar radiation is the most important source of energy on the Earth. The Gobi area in the eastern Xinjiang region, due to its geographic location and climate characteristics, has abundant solar energy resources. In order to provide detailed scientific data supporting solar energy development in this area, we used ground-based data to evaluate the applicability of the five reanalysis data sources: the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis version 5 (ERA5), the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA2), and the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55). Our results indicated that the CERES data show underestimated short-wave radiation and overestimated long-wave radiation. The correlation coefficients (r) between the ERA5 dataset and the net long-wave and short-wave radiation in observation were 0.92 and 0.91, respectively, and the r between the MERRA2 dataset and the net long-wave and short-wave radiation in observation were both 0.88. The JRA-55 dataset overestimated the long-wave radiation flux and underestimated the short-wave radiation flux. The clearness index (kt) of all datasets was poor during autumn and winter, the ERA5 estimates were cloudy when the actual condition was sunny, while the JRA-55 estimates were sunny when the actual condition was cloudy. Overall, the radiation flux in the ERA5 dataset had the highest applicability in the Gobi region.
Highlights
To test the reliability of the satellite and reanalysis data, we evaluated the correlation between the two different data and observations by calculating their correlation coefficients (r) with the observation data
The distribution range of USW was relatively small, and it was the highest in December, with the maximum value occurring on 9 February (484.96 W·m−2 )
According to the existing data, they were the highest in July and the lowest in December as both are closely related to the surface temperature
Summary
Solar radiation is the main energy source for all atmospheric physical processes on Earth and it influences the climate and weather [1]. Accurate estimation of surface solar radiation is essential for studying solar energy resources, hydrological processes, and climate change [2]. Scholars used solar radiation data directly from surface observation stations to conduct experiments and studies. Zha et al [3] analyzed the spatial
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