Extreme total solar irradiance due to cloud enhancement at sea level of the NE Atlantic coast of Brazil

Abstract

Extraterrestrial total solar irradiance, usually called Solar Constant, is attenuated by the atmosphere in different proportions, depending mainly on solar zenith angle and altitude of the measurement point. In this work, it is presented very high and extreme horizontal plane measurements of global solar irradiance that in some days overpassed the Solar Constant corrected by the actual Sun–Earth distance (CSC). They were obtained at sea level of the intertropical Atlantic coast, in the city of Recife, Brazil, in the period February 2008–January 2009. Extreme total solar irradiance values larger than CSC were measured during 3.4% of the days of the total registered period. This percentage increases to 7.4% for global solar irradiance within 95.1–100% of the CSC and to 15.3% within 90.1–95% of the CSC. The largest extreme total solar irradiance value, 1477 ± 30 W/m 2, was registered the 28th of March 2008 at 11:34 local time (UT – 3h). It overpassed by 7.9% the CSC value for this day (1369.4 W/m 2) and by 42.3% the estimated value of the clear sky Iqbal C radiation model (1037.7 W/m 2). The observation of extreme values should be taken into account in the study of solar radiation effects related to materials exposed to the outside, UV index and biological effects, among others. Also, the detailed knowledge of this interesting effect may contribute significantly to clarify physical aspects about the interaction of global solar radiation with the ecosystem and climate change.