Cloud effective transmittance at two sites of the Atacama Desert, Chile

Broadband overcast cloud effective transmittance was determined at Arica (18.47S, 70.31°W, 20 m above sea level (asl)) and Poconchile (18.45°S, 70.07°W, 560 m asl), Atacama Desert, northern Chile, from 10 min averaged pyranometer measurements of total solar irradiance (ToSI) and ultraviolet solar ir...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Luccini, Eduardo Alfredo, Rivas, Miguel, Rojas, Elisa, Canziani, Pablo Osvaldo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/194111
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/194111
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:CLOUDS
EFFECTIVE TRANSMITTANCE
ATACAMA DESERT
PYRANOMETER
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:Broadband overcast cloud effective transmittance was determined at Arica (18.47S, 70.31°W, 20 m above sea level (asl)) and Poconchile (18.45°S, 70.07°W, 560 m asl), Atacama Desert, northern Chile, from 10 min averaged pyranometer measurements of total solar irradiance (ToSI) and ultraviolet solar irradiance (UVSI) during the period 2002-2005. The predominant cloud type is marine stratocumulus, characteristic of the southeastern Pacific tropical environment. The region's very regular climate conditions, characterized by overcast mornings and cloudless afternoons, allow the application of an empirical method to determine the expected clear-sky irradiance during cloudy mornings. The cloud effective transmittance (CET) is determined as the ratio of the measured cloudy-sky irradiance over the expected clear-sky irradiance. CETTo = 0.26 (0.31) for ToSI and CETUV = 0.37 (0.43) for UVSI characterize overcast cloudiness at Arica (Poconchile). One-dimensional radiative transfer model calculations in both ToSI and UVSI ranges are also used. The measured and modeled relationships between CETTo and CETUV closely agree. New insights are given to explain the sparsely populated data around CET = 0.8 observed also by other similar studies.