Satellite-Based Sunshine Duration for Europe

Remote Sensing

Steffen Kothe²  Elizabeth Good¹  André Obregón³  Bodo Ahrens² 

[1] Met Office Hadley Centre, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, Devon EX1 3PB, UK; E-Mail:;Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Altenhöferallee 1, D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany; E-Mail:;Deutscher Wetterdienst, Frankfurter Str. 135, Offenbach D-60387, Germany; E-Mails:

关键词: sunshine duration;    Meteosat Second Generation;    evaluation;    CM SAF;    cloud type;    surface incoming direct radiation;    climate monitoring;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs5062943

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In this study, two different methods were applied to derive daily and monthly sunshine duration based on high-resolution satellite products provided by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring using data from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager). The satellite products were either hourly cloud type or hourly surface incoming direct radiation. The satellite sunshine duration estimates were not found to be significantly different using the native 15-minute temporal resolution of SEVIRI. The satellite-based sunshine duration products give additional spatial information over the European continent compared with equivalent in situ-based products. An evaluation of the satellite sunshine duration by product intercomparison and against station measurements was carried out to determine their accuracy. The satellite data were found to be within ±1 h/day compared to high-quality Baseline Surface Radiation Network or surface synoptic observations (SYNOP) station measurements. The satellite-based products differ more over the oceans than over land, mainly because of the treatment of fractional clouds in the cloud type-based sunshine duration product. This paper presents the methods used to derive the satellite sunshine duration products and the performance of the different retrievals. The main benefits and disadvantages compared to station-based products are also discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland