Terrestrial Solar Radiation

While the solar radiation incident on the Earth's atmosphere is relatively constant, the radiation at the Earth's surface varies widely due to:

• atmospheric effects, including absorption and scattering;
• local variations in the atmosphere, such as water vapour, clouds, and pollution;
• latitude of the location; and
• the season of the year and the time of day.

The above effects have several impacts on the solar radiation received at the Earth's surface. These changes include variations in the overall power received, the spectral content of the light and the angle from which light is incident on a surface. In addition, a key change is that the variability of the solar radiation at a particular location increases dramatically. The variability is due to both local effects such as clouds and seasonal variations, as well as other effects such as the length of the day at a particular latitude. Desert regions tend to have lower variations due to local atmospheric phenomena such as clouds. Equatorial regions have low variability between seasons.

Solar radiation at the Earth's surface varies from the solar radiation incident on the Earth's atmosphere. Cloud cover, air pollution, latitude of a location, and the time of the year can all cause variations in solar radiance at the Earth's surface.

The amount of energy reaching the surface of the Earth every hour is greater than the amount of energy used by the Earth's population over an entire year.

PV Lighthouse hosts Altermatt's lectures on the solar spectrum.