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Basin‐scale solar irradiance estimates in semiarid regions using GOES 7
Author(s) -
Pinker R. T.,
Kustas W. P.,
Laszlo I.,
Moran M. S.,
Huete A. R.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/93wr03059
Subject(s) - evapotranspiration , environmental science , shortwave radiation , solar irradiance , water cycle , watershed , shortwave , irradiance , structural basin , hydrological modelling , climatology , atmospheric sciences , arid , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , radiation , radiative transfer , geomorphology , biology , ecology , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , computer science , geotechnical engineering
Semiarid regions exhibit large temporal and spatial variability in surface conditions and, therefore, pose a challenge for estimating components of the surface energy budget. In particular, it is difficult to estimate the evapotranspiration component of the hydrological cycle. Because evapotranspiration is strongly controlled by absorbed solar radiation, an attempt has been made here to evaluate the accuracy at which the downward shortwave irradiance (SW ↓) can be estimated from satellites on basin scale. It was demonstrated that even under highly variable cloud conditions, satellite estimates of SW ↓ daily means were within 10% of measured values, while 5‐day means were within 3% of measured values. Such accuracies are of relevance for hydrological modeling at watershed and basin scales.