Questions tagged [insolation]
Insolation is the amount of solar radiation received over a unit area of the Earth’s surface. It is affected by latitude, season, atmospheric conditions, and topography.
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Why do solar panels capture less energy at higher latitudes? [duplicate]
When confronting people with this question, I often get back something along the lines of "the higher the latitude, the smaller/wider the angle at which the sun hits the surface. As a result the ...
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Estimation of extraterrestrial radiation for latitudes > 66.5° N/S
I'm posting here for the first time, so I hope not to violate any community-specific rules.
In Allen et al. (1998): FAO-56 an equation is presented to estimate extraterrestrial radiation Ra for ...
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Why divide total insolation by $4$?
From Nature:
We divide by $4$ since the solar energy is spread over the surface of the planetary sphere. The Earth intercepts a circular area of incoming sunlight, and this area is spread over a ...
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Which are the points on Earth that receive the least solar radiation on average?
The points which, instantaneously, receive the least radiation during daylight hours must be (I assume) those that lie tangent to the Sun rays. These points rotate, so there's a whole circle of them ...
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What would the average temperature be if there were no greenhouse effect from water vapor? [closed]
CO2, methane and other gases contribute to the greenhouse effect.
But most of the greenhouse effect is caused by water vapour in the atmosphere. There is always a lot average moisture present, but it ...
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What is the lowest latitude for which if the ideal solar energy received each day for a year is graphed, the graph would contain one peak?
I asked a question with the same meaning on Quora, but it seems no one got it, so I'm asking it here with a very different wording. I'm actually not sure if this would belong here or on the Astronomy ...
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Effective Temperature of a Planet and Surface Temperature due to Greenhouse Effect
The effective temperature of the Earth is roughly 12 °F (- 11 °C), which means that in thermal equilibrium when it is emitting as much radiation as it is absorbing, the distribution of wavelengths and ...
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Hourly solar radiation estimates on a horizontal plane, preferably in R
I'm looking to estimate the temperature at the end of a river reach of a few miles in length based on known (measured) temperature at the start of the reach plus weather information: historical data ...
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Why does more sunlight hits the equator than the ecliptic path?
I've always been told that the equator is the region on Earth that receives the most sunlight.
But I wondered, since the ecliptic is the circular path that the Sun appears to follow over the course ...
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Is there any correlation between Grand Solar Minimums (GSM) and earthquakes? [closed]
I've found many claims arguing that the periods of minimum solar activity are associated with increases earthquakes and volcanic activities.
Some of these claims are supported by articles in ...
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Why does the intensity of sunlight depend on your latitude? [duplicate]
People at the equator get to bask in more sunlight than Santa Clause and other inhabitants of the arctic regions. Not quite as pronounced, but they get more than me too.
Why is the sunlight more ...
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Which has a greater effect on the temperature of a lake: the number of fish, or the angle of the rays of light hitting the surface of the lake [closed]
Would the number of fish in a lake, along with how large they are, and how much they move, have a greater effect on the temperature of the lake than the angle of the sun's light hitting the surface of ...
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Why is the part of the earth tilted towards the sun warmer? Which factors matter more?
The part of the earth tilted towards the sun is warmer. For example, in the Northern hemisphere, the earth is tilted towards the sun in the months around June and tilted away from it in the months ...
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