Vaisala Energy Support
What affects solar radiation at a given site?
The intensity of the solar radiation at a given location depends on your latitude, terrain, season, time of day, and atmospheric conditions. For example, clouds, dust, and water vapor all affect the amount of radiation that reaches the surface at any given location.
The irradiance estimates in the Vaisala solar datasets do take into account dust, pollution, and other aerosols but not local shades and shadows, such as those caused by trees or buildings. As a result, you need to take local conditions into account when interpreting estimates displayed by the Solar Prospecting Tools or the Solar Time Series Tools.
More Solar Online Tools Questions
- How accurate is the data in the Solar Time Series Tools?
- The datasets give different answers. Which one is right?
- Why are there so many (5) different versions of solar data?
- Which weather data source should I pick?
- Why do the values in my TMY file change?
- What updates were applied to the datasets in November 2019?
- What's the latest month available in the solar time series tool?
- What solar values are shown on the map in solar prospecting and solar time series tool?
- How do I enter a location?
- Why does the map disappear?
- How do I interpret the graphs provided by the Monthly Mean Irradiance Tools in the Prospecting Tools?
- What do the Annual Mean Irradiance Tools in the Prospecting Tools provide?
- How can I compare sites side-by-side in the Prospecting Tools?
- How much area is covered by the Solar Prospecting Tools?
- How accurate are the Solar Prospecting Tools?
- What data is shown in the Solar Time Series Viewer?
- What data can I get from the Solar Time Series Download tool?
- What is the Vaisala 1.0 dataset?
- What is the Vaisala 1.1 dataset?
- What is the Vaisala 1.2 dataset?
- What is the Vaisala 2.0 dataset?
- What is the Vaisala 2.1 dataset?
- What are the units of irradiance?
- What is the “TMY” Data Type in the Solar Time Series Download tool?
- What is the “Long-Term” Data Type in the Solar Time Series Download tool?
- Why does the data not match my observations?
- How do I input CSV files into PVSyst?
- How can I input time series data into PVSyst?
- What is Global Horizontal Irradiance?
- What is Direct Normal Irradiance?
- What is Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance?
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