Distribution of Midday Air Temperature and the Solar Irradiance Over Sloping Surfaces under Cloudless Condition

• Published in: Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology Vol. 15; no. 4
• Main Authors: Kim, S.O., Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, Yun, J.I., Kyung Hee University, Yongin, Republic of Korea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 01.12.2013
• Subjects: AIR TEMPERATURE; Daily maximum temperature,Solar irradiance,Slope and aspect,Complex terrain; TEMPERATURA DEL AIRE; TEMPERATURE DE L'AIR
• ISSN: 1229-5671

Automated weather stations were installed at 9 locations with, three different elevations, (i.e., 50m, 100m, and 300m a.s.l.) with different slope and aspect in a small watershed (50km2 area). Air temperature at 1500 LST and solar radiation accumulated for 1100-1500 LST were collected from January to December 2012. Topography of the study area was defined by a 30 × 30 m digital elevation model (DEM) grid. Accumulated solar irradiance was calculated for each location with the spatially averaged slope and aspect of surrounding circles with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 grid cell radii, respectively. The 1500 LST air temperature from clear sky conditions with zero cloud amount was regressed to the 1100-1500 LST solar irradiance at 9 locations. We found the highest coefficient of determination (r2 = 0.544) at 25 grid cell radius and the temperature variation in this study was explained by Y = 0.8309X + 0.0438, where Y is 1500 LST temperature (in oC) and X is 1100-1500 LST accumulated solar irradiance (in MJ/m2).