Intercomparison of Satellite-Derived Solar Irradiance from the GEO-KOMSAT-2A and HIMAWARI-8/9 Satellites by the Evaluation with Ground Observations

Chang Ki Kim,Hyun-Goo Kim,Chang-Yeol Yun,Yong-Heack Kang,Yun Gon Lee

doi:10.3390/rs12132149

Chang Ki Kim, Hyun-Goo Kim + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12132149

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Abstract

Solar irradiance derived from satellite imagery is useful for solar resource assessment, as well as climate change research without spatial limitation. The University of Arizona Solar Irradiance Based on Satellite–Korea Institute of Energy Research (UASIBS-KIER) model has been updated to version 2.0 in order to employ the satellite imagery produced by the new satellite platform, GK-2A, launched on 5 December 2018. The satellite-derived solar irradiance from UASIBS-KIER model version 2.0 is evaluated against the two ground observations in Korea at instantaneous, hourly, and daily time scales in comparison with the previous version of UASIBS-KIER model that was optimized for the COMS satellite. The root mean square error of the UASIBS-KIER model version 2.0, normalized for clear-sky solar irradiance, ranges from 4.8% to 5.3% at the instantaneous timescale when the sky is clear. For cloudy skies, the relative root mean square error values are 14.5% and 15.9% at the stations located in Korea and Japan, respectively. The model performance was improved when the UASIBS-KIER model version 2.0 was used for the derivation of solar irradiance due to the finer spatial resolution. The daily aggregates from the proposed model are proven to be the most reliable estimates, with 0.5 km resolution, compared with the solar irradiance derived by the other models. Therefore, the solar resource map built by major outputs from the UASIBS-KIER model is appropriate for solar resource assessment.

Highlights

Solar power generation has been of interest as an alternative to fossil fuel to mitigate the climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions [1,2,3,4,5]
The University of Arizona Satellite Irradiance Based on Satellite (UASIBS) model was developed by Kim et al [22], who derived downwelling surface shortwave radiation over the Southwestern U.S by using visible reflectance and brightness temperatures from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-15, which can monitor the atmospheric state at 135◦W
We focus on validating satellite estimates from the UASIBS-Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) model series and other models by compared to in situ measurements

Summary

Introduction

Solar power generation has been of interest as an alternative to fossil fuel to mitigate the climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions [1,2,3,4,5]. The simplest of these is based on the in situ measurements that have been made since the late 1950s [10,11] Understanding their spatial limitations is necessary for identifying an alternative method to investigate downwelling surface shortwave radiation over broad areas, even if accuracy is decreased when compared to in situ observations [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. The accuracy of radiative transfer models for the derivation of solar insolation has increased sufficiently to provide the ability to estimate electric-power generation at the utility scale [23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]

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