An Analysis of Observational Environments for Solar Radiation Stations of Korea Meteorological Administration using the Digital Elevation Model and Solar Radiation Model

In order to analyze the observational environment of solar radiation stations operated by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KIVIA), we used the digital elevation model (DEM) and the solar radiation model to calculate a topographical shading, sky view factor (SVF) and solar radiation by surrounding terrain. The sky line and SVF were calculated using high resolution DEM around 25 km of the solar stations. We analyzed the topographic effect by analyzing overlapped solar map with sky line. Particularly, Incheon station has low SVF whereas Cheongsong and Chupungryong station have high SVF. In order to validation the contribution of topographic effect, the solar radiation calculated using GWNU solar radiation model according to the sky line and SVF under the same meteorological conditions. As a result, direct, diffuse and global solar radiation were decreased by 12.0, 5.6, and 4.7% compared to plane surface on Cheongsong station. The 6 stations were decreased amount of mean daily solar radiation to the annual solar radiation. Among 42 stations, eight stations were analyzed as the urgent transfer stations or moving equipment quickly and more than half of stations (24) were required to review the observational environment. Since the DEM data do not include artifacts and vegetation around the station, the stations need a detail survey of observational environment.