bom_solar_feb

Average daily solar exposure February

Global solar exposure is the total amount of solar energy falling on a horizontal surface. The daily global solar exposure is the total solar energy for a day, and is typically between 1 and 35 MJ/m2 (megajoules per square metre).

The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) computer radiation model uses visible images from geostationary meteorological satellites to estimate daily global solar exposures at ground level. At each location the image brightness is used to provide an estimate of the solar irradiance at the ground. Essentially, the irradiance at the ground can be calculated from the irradiance at the top of the earth's atmosphere, the amount absorbed in the atmosphere (dependant on the amount of water vapour present), the amount reflected from the surface (surface albedo) and the amount reflected from clouds (cloud albedo). These instantaneous irradiance values are integrated over the day to give daily solar exposure in megajoules per square metre.

More information: http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_averages/solar-exposure/index.jsp?period=an#maps

Access constraints:

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/climatology/solar_radiation/average-solar-exposure-metadata.pdf