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A clear‐sky spectral solar radiation model for snow‐covered mountainous terrain
Author(s) -
Dozier Jeff
Publication year - 1980
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/wr016i004p00709
Subject(s) - terrain , snow , radiance , diffuse sky radiation , remote sensing , environmental science , sky , radiation , solar irradiance , meteorology , radiometry , visibility , snowpack , geology , optics , scattering , physics , geography , cartography
A clear‐sky spectral solar radiation model for direct and diffuse fluxes, combined with topographic calculations from digital terrain data, computes either incident, net, or reflected solar radiation at any point on a snow surface in mountainous terrain. The radiation may be integrated over any wavelength range from 250 to 5000 nm, or over any time step. Atmospheric attenuation parameters are ozone, water vapor, the Angstrom turbidity coefficient and exponent, and the absorptance to reflectance ratio of the atmospheric aerosols. The model derives these, from measurements which may contain both systematic and random errors, by finding the least squares solution to an overdetermined set of nonlinear equations. For calculations over a specified area, it employs table look‐up procedures, so that computation speed for the spectral model approaches that for a lumped model. Thus it may be useful as part of a snow surface energy budget calculation over a drainage basin.