Exploring Data Sources for Solar Radiation Studies

Table of Links

Abstract and Intro

Data

Bayesian Hierarchical Model (BHM)

Solar Radiation Example

Results

Conclusion

Appendix A: Simulation Study

Appendix B: Regridding Coefficient Estimates

References

2 Data

2.1 National Solar Radiation Database

2.2 Climate Model Database

Climate model data is sourced from the North American CORDEX (NA-CORDEX) data archive, containing RCM output forced by various global climate models (GCMs) (McGinnis and Mearns (2021)). The NA-CORDEX data archive contains many common climate variables, including surface downwelling shortwave radiation, at daily scales and sub-daily for some variables. Note that surface downwelling shortwave radiation is recorded as rsds in NA-CORDEX but is equivalent to GHI and measured in the same units. Therefore, it will be referred to as “GHI” throughout this article. The archive includes ERA-Interim driven runs generally covering 1979-2014. GCM driven runs cover both historical periods (1949-2005) and future years (2006- 2100) for various climate path scenarios and a model domain covering all of the conterminous United States as well as most of Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

The data chosen for this study will later be used in statistical downscaling operations for solar radiation for future years and RCMs for this study are chosen with this long-term goal in mind. The output chosen for this study are three ERA-Interim driven RCMs: Weather Research & Forecasting Model (WRF), Canadian Regional Climate Model 4 (CanRCM4), and the fifth generation Canadian Regional Climate Model from the University of Quebec at Montreal (CRCM5-UQAM). These RCMs have desirable representative concentration pathways (RCPs) and grid resolution for future GCM driven runs.