High-Resolution Solar Irradiance Data from Cabauw, Netherlands, 2011-2020

Cabauw, Netherlands, provides 10 years of high-resolution surface solar irradiance observations from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). The dataset contains preprocessed 1 Hz records of direct, diffuse, and global horizontal irradiance from February 2011 to December 2020. It was created by Wouter Knap of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute as the basis for an official 1-minute BSRN dataset.

Use Cases

• Modeling solar power output variability based on 1 Hz direct and diffuse irradiance measurements.
• Analyzing atmospheric aerosol or cloud effects on solar radiation based on the separation of direct and global irradiance.
• Validating satellite-derived solar irradiance products based on high-resolution ground-truth observations.
• Studying climatological trends in surface solar irradiance based on a decade-long time series.

Strengths

• 10-year temporal coverage from 2011 to 2020.
• High-resolution 1 Hz observational data for direct, diffuse, and global irradiance.
• Data originates from the authoritative Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN).

Limitations

• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The 1 Hz data's alignment with the official 1-minute BSRN dataset is noted as unvalidated for this version.

Provenance

Source

Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) station at Cabauw, the Netherlands.

Collection Method

Preprocessed 1 Hz observational records from ground-based instruments.

Time Range

2011-02 to 2020-12-31

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Cabauw, the Netherlands.