Solar Radiation and Meteorological Monitoring at UNLV Las Vegas

Solar and meteorological measurements from a monitoring station at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, established through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It monitors global horizontal, direct normal, and diffuse horizontal irradiance to define the solar energy potential at this location.

Use Cases

• Analyze global horizontal, direct normal, and diffuse horizontal irradiance to model solar energy generation potential.
• Correlate meteorological variables like humidity and precipitation with solar irradiance measurements for climate impact studies.
• Use pressure and humidity data alongside irradiance to calibrate solar power forecasting models for the Las Vegas region.
• Compare direct normal irradiance measurements from the pyrheliometer with global horizontal readings from the pyranometer to assess atmospheric clarity.

Strengths

• Data collection is supported by a partnership between a major university and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
• The dataset includes multiple specific solar radiation components (global horizontal, direct normal, diffuse horizontal) and meteorological variables.
• The data was last updated in March 2026, indicating recent maintenance.

Limitations

• The specific data structure, including column names, row count, and file size, is unknown.
• The dataset is geographically limited to a single monitoring station at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
• The primary file format is HTML, which may not be optimal for direct quantitative analysis without parsing.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in partnership with the University of Nevada.

Collection Method

Collected via on-site solar measurement instrumentation (pyranometer, pyrheliometer, radiometer) and meteorological monitoring equipment.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-21.

Geography

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States (specifically the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus).