Latitudinal variability of surface solar radiation in Moldova

Abstract

Latitudinal variation of the level of solar radiation incident onto the ground surface over the territory of Moldova is analyzed. Combined solar radiation data from HelioClim-2 data- base comprising of datasets retrieved from METEOSAT satellite high resolution images and ground-based measurements at the Chisinau site from 2004 to 2007 are used in analysis. A simplified linear relationship between the surface solar irradiance and latitude is presented. Overestimation of solar irradiation data retrieved from METEOSAT satellite images relative to datasets from ground observations at the Chisinau site on the average amounts to 10.3%.