Diffuse PAR Surface Solar Irradiance for Australia from Himawari Satellites

Giving access to diffusely transmitted surface solar irradiance integrated over the Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) spectral range (400-700 nm). It was generated for the Australian continent and surrounding waters using daytime imagery from the Himawari-8/9 geostationary satellites and the Qin et al. (2021a) algorithm. The data is available in a regular latitude/longitude grid and the original Himawari projection.

Use Cases

• Model plant photosynthesis and primary productivity using the PAR spectral range (400-700 nm) irradiance data.
• Analyze spatial patterns of diffuse solar radiation over the Australian continent and surrounding waters.
• Validate and improve atmospheric radiative transfer models using the Qin et al. (2021a) algorithm outputs.
• Support agricultural and ecological studies by providing a key input for light availability in ecosystems.

Strengths

• Derived from Himawari-8/9 geostationary satellite imagery, providing consistent observation over a fixed region.
• Generated using a peer-reviewed algorithm (Qin et al., 2021a) published in Solar Energy.
• Covers the Australian continent and surrounding waters, a specific and defined geographic area.

Limitations

• Data access requires contacting the authors and is hosted on the Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), which may involve a request process.
• The primary file formats (HTML, PNG, WMS) are for visualization and web services, not raw numerical data, limiting direct analysis.
• A near-real-time processor is noted as 'being developed', suggesting current data may not be real-time or have latency.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery, via data.gov.au.

Collection Method

Generated from daytime Himawari-8/9 satellite imagery using the Qin et al. (2021a) algorithm.

Freshness

The metadata was last updated on 2026-03-20, though the actual data update frequency is not specified.

Geography

Australian continent and surrounding waters.