Measurements of sunshine duration by automatic sensors and their effects on the homogeneity of long-term series in the Czech Republic

Abstract

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 78:83-101 (2019) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01564 Measurements of sunshine duration by automatic sensors and their effects on the homogeneity of long-term series in the Czech Republic Adam Valík1, Rudolf Brázdil1,2,*, Pavel Zahradníček2,3, Radim Tolasz4, Martin Možný5, Ladislava Řezníčková1,2 1Institute of Geography, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic 2Global Change Research Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic 3Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Brno Regional Office, Kroftova 43, 616 67 Brno, Czech Republic 4Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Na Šabatce 17, 143 06 Praha 4 - Komořany, Czech Republic 5Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Doksany Observatory, 411 82 Doksany 105, Czech Republic *Corresponding author: brazdil@sci.muni.cz ABSTRACT: For many decades, meteorological stations in the Czech Republic used the Campbell-Stokes (CS) sunshine recorder to measure sunshine duration. However, automatic devices have progressively replaced it since the mid-1990s, first with the Vaisala DSU12 sensor and then with the SD4, SD5 and SD6 sensors produced by Meteoservis. The technical specifications and modes of function of these instruments differ from those of their predecessors and therefore integration of their results into standard sunshine duration series may give rise to significant break-points. In this contribution, we used statistics to analyse differences in sunshine duration totals derived from measurements taken by the CS sunshine recorder and those employing automatic sensors at daily, monthly and annual levels from meteorological stations located at Doksany, Churáňov, Kocelovice, Kostelní Myslová and Prague-Karlov in the Czech Republic. These differences were also evaluated from the point of view of daily cloudiness. Finally, series combining measurements by the CS recorder with those from automatic sensors and series measured by only the CS sunshine recorder were created, homogenised and analysed in terms of long-term fluctuations and annual variations. KEY WORDS: Sunshine duration · Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder · Automatic sensors · Differences · Homogenisation · Long-term variability · Czech Republic Full text in pdf format PreviousCite this article as: Valík A, Brázdil R, Zahradníček P, Tolasz R, Možný M, Řezníčková L (2019) Measurements of sunshine duration by automatic sensors and their effects on the homogeneity of long-term series in the Czech Republic. Clim Res 78:83-101. https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01564 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 78, No. 1. Online publication date: June 27, 2019 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2019 Inter-Research.