An investigation of the effects of spatially averaging satellite brightness measurements on the calculation of insolation.

Abstract

An investigation of the effects of spatially averaging brightness measurements from a geostationary satellite on the calculation of insolation is presented. A series of experiments are reported in which averaging over scales varying by a factor of 8 to 64 from the initial resolution as well as averaging within the model itself have been performed. Results indicate that spatially averaged daily insolation can be estimated from mean hourly brightness measurements at an eight-times reduced resolution. A sizeable reduction in the data processing necessary to obtain accurate estimates of insolation for various climate studies is thus possible. -Authors