Solar Radiation Received by Slopes Using COMS Imagery, a Physically Based Radiation Model, and GLOBE

Abstract

This study mapped the solar radiation received by slopes for all of Korea, including areas that are not measured by ground station measurements, through using satellites and topographical data. When estimating insolation with satellite, we used a physical model to measure the amount of hourly based solar surface insolation. Furthermore, we also considered the effects of topography using the Global Land One-Kilometer Base Elevation (GLOBE) digital elevation model (DEM) for the actual amount of incident solar radiation according to solar geometry. The surface insolation mapping, by integrating a physical model with the Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS) Meteorological Imager (MI) image, was performed through a comparative analysis with ground-based observation data (pyranometer). Original and topographically corrected solar radiation maps were created and their characteristics analyzed. Both the original and the topographically corrected solar energy resource maps captured the temporal variations in atmospheric conditions, such as the movement of seasonal rain fronts during summer. In contrast, although the original solar radiation map had a low insolation value over mountain areas with a high rate of cloudiness, the topographically corrected solar radiation map provided a better description of the actual surface geometric characteristics.