In this paper, a novel approach for the estimation of global solar irradiance is proposed based on a combination of empirical correlation and ant colony optimization. Empirical correlation has been used to estimate monthly average of daily global solar irradiance on a horizontal surface. The Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm has been applied as a swarm-intelligence technique to tune the c...

The lack of reliable data for ground solar irradiance (direct normal and global irradiance) is a major obstacle for the development of adequate policies to promote and take advantage of existing solar technologies. Although the radiation that reaches the outer layers of the atmosphere is well defined and can be easily calculated, the solar irradiance that reaches the ground level where solar co...

We reconstruct the solar irradiance since 1874 employing an evolved version of previously published models and improved sunspot and facular data. A good correlation between reconstructed irradiance and Earth’s global air temperature on time scales longer than the solar cycle is obtained and, in contrast to many earlier models, solar irradiance does not on average lag behind global temperature p...

Changes in global average temperatures and of the seasonal cycle are strongly coupled to the concentration of atmospheric CO2. I estimate transfer functions from changes in atmospheric CO2 and from changes in solar irradiance to hemispheric temperatures that have been corrected for the effects of precession. They show that changes from CO2 over the last century are about three times larger than...

The optical reference plane of a J1002 shaped dome diffuser from CMS-Schreder was determined using direct normal spectral solar UV irradiance measurements relative to a flat Teflon diffuser. The spectroradiometers were calibrated relative to the same irradiance standard. The optical reference plane of the shaped J1002 diffuser is 5.3 mm behind the top of the dome with an uncertainty of 1.0 mm. ...

Scattering of solar radiation by clouds can reduce or enhance solar global irradiance compared to cloudless-sky irradiance at the Earth’s surface. Cloud effects to global irradiance can be described by Cloud Modification Factors (CMF). Depending on strength and duration, irradiance enhancements affect the energy balance of the surface and gain of solar power for electric energy generation. In t...

By focusing on time sequences of basin-average and global-average upper ocean temperature (i.e., from 40øS to 60øN) we find temperatures responding to changing solar irradiance in three separate frequency bands with periods of >100 years, 18-25 years, and 9-13 years. Moreover, we find them in two different data sets, that is, surface marine weather observations from 1990 to 1991 and bathythermo...

A composite record of the Sun’s total irradiance compiled from measurements made by five independent space-based radiometers since 1978 exhibits a prominent 11year cycle with similar levels during 1986 and 1996, the two most recent minimum epochs of solar activity. This finding contradicts recent assertions of a 0.04% irradiance increase from the 1986 to 1996 solar minima and suggests that sola...

This paper analyzes the behavior of one minute global irradiance distributions as a function of hourly average solar global irradiance. For this purpose, we have used the clearness index kt which describes the atmospheric transmittance. Our interest is in characterizing the intrahourly variability of solar global irradiance and the behavior of the instantaneous values as a function of hourly va...

The upper atmosphere is a strongly driven system in which the global state is rapidly altered by the solar drivers. Oneof themaindrivers of theupper atmosphere is the solar irradiance in the extremeultraviolet andx-raybands.The solar irradiance in these bands is proxied by ground-basedmeasurements ofF10.7, which is the solar irradiance at the wavelength of 10.7 cm. The problem of estimating F10...