A new approach to estimate the spatial distribution of solar radiation using topographic factor and sunshine duration in South Korea

Solar radiation is one of the important renewable resources, currently scientists are taking their interest in. Accurate solar radiation data is not only required for solar-power management but also is a vital input parameter in different biogeochemical and atmospheric models. But there are inadequate number of stations measuring solar radiation in comparison to stations dedicated for sunshine duration, temperature, humidity etc. Therefore, to overcome this problem, an empirical model is developed to estimate solar radiation from sunshine duration data over South Korea. As more than 50% of the area in Korean peninsula have a complex terrain, a topographical factor is applied to modeled data. Thereafter a map presenting monthly mean variation in incoming solar insolation is constructed using ordinary kriging method. The influence of topographical features like slope and aspect is found to be higher in winter than summer. Solar radiation is highest in May and lowest in December over Korea. Spatial variation of incoming radiation is mainly influenced by topographical and atmospheric features whereas latitudinal gradient is almost insignificant. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.