Assessment of the Effect of Atmospheric Attenuation and Absorption on Solar Irradiance in Desert Environment

Abstract

Solar energy assessment is one of the challenges facing solar applications. The received solar irradiance on the ground is a function of the attenuation and absorption of different particles in the atmosphere such as aerosols, water vapor, Rayleigh’s scattering and different gases such as Ozone, Carbon Dioxide and Methane. Therefore, quantification of the effect of atmospheric constituents is essential in order to refine existing solar assessment models. Using NASA’s AERONET to acquire the optical depth of different atmospheric constituents in clear sky conditions, and monitoring the time matched solar irradiance measurements will enable the analysis of the effects of atmospheric attenuation and absorption on the solar energy output. This is done by calculating the broadband optical depth from the multi wavelengths data provided by the AERONET, and by analyzing different combinations of attenuation and absorption of atmospheric constituents to calculate the DNI loss. The results show that water vapor absorption is not thoroughly represented by the AERNOET due to the wavelength limitations of the device resulting in underestimation of water vapor absorption. Although different methods of acquiring the transmittance coefficient were adopted, water vapor absorption was consistently under estimated.

Date of Award	Jun 2013
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Mohamed Hosni Ghedira (Supervisor)