Global Surface Solar Irradiance Derived from ISCCP Satellite Data

Global surface solar irradiance data provides daily and monthly total irradiance, clear sky irradiance, cloud fraction, and standard deviation values. The dataset is derived from ISCCP satellite observations organized in 2.5-degree-square grid boxes. It was produced by the organization SCIOPS and last updated in June 1991.

Use Cases

• Modeling historical solar energy potential using daily total irradiance and clear sky irradiance fields.
• Analyzing cloud cover trends and variability with the monthly cloud fraction data.
• Assessing spatial and temporal uncertainty in irradiance estimates using the standard deviation of total irradiance.
• Validating climate and weather models by comparing simulated and observed monthly total irradiance across the global grid.

Strengths

• Global spatial coverage with data for the entire Earth's surface.
• Provides multiple derived metrics including daily and monthly totals, clear sky values, and cloud fraction.

Limitations

• Data is temporally stale, with the last update recorded in June 1991.
• The spatial resolution is coarse at 2.5-degree grid squares (approx. 275 km at the equator).
• Sample size, row count, and data volume are unknown from the provided description.

Provenance

Source

ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) satellite data.

Collection Method

Derived from satellite observations.

Freshness

1991-06-30

Geography

Global