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Class3 2022

This document discusses solar radiation and its distribution on Earth. It notes: 1) Solar radiation is highest at the equator and decreases towards the poles, with the poles receiving about 40% of the equator's annual radiation. 2) During solstices, the length of daylight is greatest at the poles in the summer hemisphere, leading to more daily energy receipt at the poles than elsewhere. 3) Annual solar radiation curves fall into low, middle, and high latitude groups with varying seasonal variations in insolation.

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Ashish v Philip
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8 views

Class3 2022

This document discusses solar radiation and its distribution on Earth. It notes: 1) Solar radiation is highest at the equator and decreases towards the poles, with the poles receiving about 40% of the equator's annual radiation. 2) During solstices, the length of daylight is greatest at the poles in the summer hemisphere, leading to more daily energy receipt at the poles than elsewhere. 3) Annual solar radiation curves fall into low, middle, and high latitude groups with varying seasonal variations in insolation.

Uploaded by

Ashish v Philip
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit 2

Solar Radiation
Distribution of solar radiation

Latitudinal and seasonal variations

• For a year as a whole, solar radiation


reaches a maximum at the equator and
diminishes towards minima at both poles.
• At the poles, the total amount of solar
radiation received in a year is about 40% of
that received at the equator.
• At the time of equinoxes (~ Mar 21 & Sept
23), the latitudinal distribution of solar
radiation is similar to that for the whole
year.
• At the time of solstices, the length of the day increases from 66.5 o in the winter
hemisphere to the poles in the summer hemisphere
• Despite the low altitude of the sun at the poles, relatively long duration of sunlight
causes the daily receipt of energy to be larger at the poles in summer than at any
other place or time of the earth.
• A Secondary maximum occurs near 44o lat. at the summer solstice of each
hemisphere.
Annual march of solar radiation by latitude

The annual solar radiation (insolation) curves fall into 3 groups: low, middle, and high
latitudes.
a) The low-latitude or tropical curve - remains constantly high with little seasonal variations.
Has two weak maxima and two weak minima.
b) The middle latitude curve - shows a single maximum and a minimum which coincides
with solstices. Curve does not reach zero at any time as there is no period when insolation
is absent.
c) The polar insolation curve - resembles that of the middles latitudes, coinciding with the
summer and winter solstices. It reach zero value compared to other curves - during a
portion of the year there is an absence of direct sunlight.
Radiation - The transfer of energy across the space without the necessity of a
material medium.

Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)


Its the energy that is transmitted at the speed of light as
oscillating electric and magnetic fields through a medium or
space.

The wave characteristics of EMR:

Wavelength – Length of one wave cycle (distance


between successive wave crests/troughs). Unit-metre (m)
Frequency – number of cycles of a wave passing a fixed
point per second. Unit – Hertz (Hz)

Wavelength and frequency are related by,


c=λν
where c = velocity of light (3x108 m/s), λ = wavelength,
and ν = frequency.

Wavelength and frequency are inversely proportional.


Electro Magnetic Spectrum
It is the range of all types of EM radiation grouped according to their wavelengths.

Visible light spectrum is the segment of electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can view,
ranging from 380 to 700 nm.
Violet has the shortest wavelength, ~ 380 nm, and red has the longest wavelength ~700 nm.
(nm=10-9m)
Visible light (380 – 700 nm) – 44% of solar radiation
Infrared radiation (700 nm to 1mm)– 48%
Ultraviolet radiation (10 – 400 nm) – 7%

Infrared radiation

Human eye cannot see it, but human can detect it as heat.
Near IR radiation : 0.71 to 1.3 micrometers
Shortwave IR : 1.3 – 3 micrometer
Far infrared (thermal IR) : 3 -100 micrometer
Atmospheric effects on incoming solar radiation
Solar beam gets scattered, reflected and absorbed in varying degree by the atmosphere’s
gases and tiny particles suspended in the air.
The depletion vary depending on the latitude, season and the local conditions.

Scattering- When a beam of light or radiant energy passes


through a transparent medium, some of the light is deflected
from the direct beam by air molecules and very fine dust,
including smoke, haze and sent in all directions.
●
Does not alter the wavelength of the radiation.
●
Reduces the amount of incoming radiation reaching the
Earth's surface.

The amount of scattering is dependent on two factors:


wavelength (λ) of the incoming radiation and the size of the scattering particle
or gas molecule.
3 different types of scattering:
Rayleigh scattering, Mie scattering, and non-selective scattering

Rayleigh scattering
●
Dominant scattering mechanism in the upper atmosphere
● Primarily caused by atmospheric gases (N & O molecules).
2 2
●
Occurs when the particles causing the scattering are small compared to the wavelength
of radiation.
●
Shorter wavelengths get affected more. As the wavelength decreases, the amount of
scattering increases. Amount of scattering is inversely proportional to the 4 th power of λ.

Rayleigh scattering cause the sky to appears blue. Blue light is scattered around four times
as much as red light and the sky is made visible by this scattered blue light.
At sunrise and sunset, the sun appear red.
Mie scattering

●
Occur when the particles are of the same size as the wavelength of the radiation.
e.g. pollen, dust, smoke, and water vapour.
●
Affects the longer wavelengths
●
Occur in the lower portion of the atmosphere where large particles are abundant.
●
Dominant during overcast conditions.

Non-selective scattering

This scattering occur, when particles are much larger than the wavelength of the radiation.
e.g. water droplets and large dust particles.

It cause the white appearance of the clouds and fog,


because the scattering is wavelength independent and all
wavelengths are scattered in approximately in equal
quantities by the particles.
Absorption

• Process in which solar radiation is retained by a substance and converted into heat.
• The creation of heat also causes the substance to emit its own radiation.
• This emission of radiation is in all directions so a large proportion of this energy is lost
to space.
• Water vapour, Ozone and carbon dioxide are the three main atmospheric constituents
which absorb radiation.

Reflection

• Process where sunlight is redirected back after it strikes an atmospheric particle.


• The light reflects off of a surface at the same angle at which it initially struck the
surface.
• This redirection causes a 100 % loss of the insolation.
• Most of the reflection in atmosphere occurs in clouds when light is intercepted by
particles of liquid and frozen water.
How is energy related to the wavelength of radiation?

The energy of a photon or quantum is given by


E= h ν ν ν ,
where E is the energy (J, Joules), h is Planck's constant (h = 6.626 x 10–34 J s),
and ν ν is the frequency of the radiation (s–1 or Hertz, Hz)
E = h c / ν λ,
where c, the speed of light, is 3 x 108 m s–1.
This means that photons with low frequencies, like radio waves, have lower energies than
photons with high frequencies, like X-rays.
General definitions:
Solar radiation: The amount of radiant energy emitted by the sun.
Radiant energy : The energy in transit (Joule J)
Irradiance: The amount of radiant energy incident on a surface per unit area.
Unit- W/m2
Insolation: Amount of solar radiation received by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Solar constant

The amount of solar radiation incident per unit area and time on a surface
perpendicular to the radiation, at a point situated at the outer limit of the
atmosphere, when the earth is at its mean distance from the sun.
S = 1370 watts per square metre (W/m2)
Radiation Laws

All objects with a temperature above absolute zero (0 K, -273.15 oC) emit energy in the form
of electromagnetic radiation.

Black body radiation


A blackbody is a hypothetical body that
1. Completely absorbs all incident radiation
2. Emits radiation at the maximum possible intensity for all wavelength
It is a hypothetical object which is a “perfect” absorber and a “perfect” emitter of
radiation over all wavelengths.
 
 

 
 

The sun with high surface temperature of ~6000 K


emits visible light with a maximum at
around 0.5 µm. (λmax= 2897/6000)

The Earth with an ambient temperature of 300 K


emits predominantly in the thermal infrared with a
maximum around 10 µm.
(λmax= 2897/300)
Planck’s Law
Planck's Law can be generalized as : Every object emits radiation at all times and at all
wavelengths.
According to the Planck’s Law, the rate at which a black body emits radiational energy
is related to the temperature of the body and the wavelength of the radiation.
Planck’s Law describes the amount of radiation emitted by a blackbody at each
wavelength as a function of temperature, and is given by,

where C1 = 5.362 X 105 cal cm-2 min-1 micron4


And C2 = 1.4385 x 104 micron oK

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