Ten years of 1 Hz solar irradiance observations at Cabauw, the Netherlands, with cloud observations, variability classifications, and statistics

• Published in: Earth system science data 2023-05, Vol.15 (5), p.2139-2151
• Main Authors: Mol, Wouter B, Knap, Wouter H, van Heerwaarden, Chiel C
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Analysis; Atmospheric chemistry; Atmospheric composition; Atmospheric models; Availability; Classification; Clear sky; Cloud observations; Clouds; Data analysis; Datasets; Electricity distribution; Irradiance; Observatories; Position measurement; Quality control; Radiation; Response time; Shadows; Sky; Solar irradiance; Solar position; Statistical methods; Statistics; Time series; Variability; Weather forecasting; Wind measurement
• ISSN: 1866-3516; 1866-3508; 1866-3516
• DOI: 10.5194/essd-15-2139-2023

Surface solar irradiance varies on scales down to seconds, and detailed long-term observational datasets of this variable are rare but in high demand. Here, we present an observational dataset of global, direct, and diffuse solar irradiance sampled at 1 Hz as well as fully resolved variability until at least 0.1 Hz over a period of 10 years from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) station at Cabauw, the Netherlands. The dataset is complemented with irradiance variability classifications, clear-sky irradiance and aerosol reanalysis, information about the solar position, observations of clouds and sky type, and wind measurements up to 200 m above ground level. Statistics of variability derived from all time series include approximately 185 000 detected events of both cloud enhancement and cloud shadows. Additional observations from the Cabauw measurement site are freely available from the open-data platform of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. This paper describes the observational site, quality control, classification algorithm with validation, and the processing method of complementary products. Additionally, we discuss and showcase (potential) applications, including limitations due to sensor response time. These observations and derived statistics provide detailed information to aid research into how clouds and atmospheric composition influence solar irradiance variability as well as information to help validate models that are starting to resolve variability at higher fidelity. The main datasets are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7093164 (Knap and Mol, 2022) and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7462362 (Mol et al., 2022); the reader is referred to the “Code and data availability” section of this paper for the complete list.