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Table 1: Overview of key characteristics of CRS-TIME products.
| CRS-TIME Clear-Sky (McClear method) | CRS-TIME All-Sky (APOLLO_NG and Heliosat-4 method) |
| ADS name | Cloud-free conditions only | Both cloud-free and actual weather conditions |
Type of product | Point data, time-series | |
Parameters | GHI, DHI, BHI, BNI | |
Geographical area | global | Europe / Africa / Middle East / Atlantic Ocean / Brazil / east of Asia / Oceania / Australia |
Horizontal resolution | Interpolated to point of interest from various spatial input data resolutions | |
Time coverage | from 2004-01-01 to | from 2004-02-01 for Meteosat and 2016-01-01 for Himawari field of view |
Temporal resolution | 1 min, aggregated also to 15 min, 1 h, 1 day, or 1 month | |
Data format | ASCII (CSV), NetCDF | |
Data file size | File size depends on the temporal resolution. Largest files are in 1 min temporal resolution and the CSV data format | |
Data access | Atmosphere Data Store, | |
Processing | on request; data normally available within a few minutes | |
Update of the databases | 2 days delayed mode | |
The CAMS Radiation Service CSV formatted times series products (CRS-TIME) are presented as a metadata header section, followed by lines of values (columns). The metadata header section helps the user to understand the data, and describing the various features of the products. These metadata are written as text in the delivered file, and conform to the ISO standard where available. Currently these metadata are:
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Table 2: Overview of key characteristics of CRS-GRID data.
| CAMS all-sky and clear sky (CRS-GRID) |
Type of product | Gridded data |
Parameters | GHI, DHI, BHI, BNI |
Geographical area | Europe / Africa / Middle East / Atlantic Ocean /Brazil/ east of Asia/ Oceania /Australia (Meteosat Second Generation |
Horizontal resolution | 0.1° in latitude and longitude |
Time coverage | from 2005-01-01 to |
Temporal resolution | 15 min |
Data format | Monthly NetCDF files |
Data file size | depending on region |
Data access | |
Processing | Pre-processed with CRS version 4.6 |
Update of the databases | On an annual basis |
Standard output variables
| Main Variable Names | NetCDF Units | Description |
|---|---|---|
| BHI | Wh m-2 | All-sky direct (beam) irradiation, i.e., the direct part of the surface solar downward irradiation integrated over 285 to 2800 nm available at ground level, on a horizontal surface. For cloudy atmospheres, both non-scattered and scattered radiation within the field-of-view of a pyrheliometer are taken into account. |
| BNI | Wh m-2 | All-sky Direct Normal Irradiation. Part of the radiation that is received from the direction of the sun by a plane facing the sun. For cloudy atmospheres, both non-scattered and scattered radiation within the field-of-view of a pyrheliometer are taken into account. |
| DHI | Wh m-2 | All-sky diffuse irradiation, i.e., the diffuse part of the surface solar downward irradiation integrated over 285 to 2800 nm available at ground level, on a horizontal surface |
| GHI | Wh m-2 | All-sky global irradiation, i.e., the surface solar downward irradiation integrated over 285 to 2800 nm available at ground level, on a horizontal surface |
| BHIc | Wh m-2 | Direct horizontal clear sky irradiation |
| BNIc | Wh m-2 | Direct normal clear sky irradiation |
| DHIc | Wh m-2 | Diffuse horizontal clear sky irradiation |
| GHIc | Wh m-2 | Global horizontal clear sky irradiation |
Expert mode variables
For expert users, all input and output variables are provided in the ‘detailed info expert output mode’ available as part of the time series service (CRS-TIME). It can only be retrieved when requesting 1 min resolved time series from the Atmosphere Data Store and with a maximum length of a month. Besides the standard outputs, it provides:
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Known issues and version updates
| Date | Version | Description |
2023-10 | v4.6 (current) | Access to Himawari satellite field of view now online. New error messages for CAMS Radiation and McClear services. CRS-GRID data are compressed in NetCDF files. In version 4.5, end users had to convert 254 and 255 values to NaN, and to multiply the other values by 1.2. In version 4.6, this is done automatically by NetCDF library. |
2023-07 | v4.6 | New improved version of CAMS Radiation Service all sky model. This version 4.6 uses the new version 48r1 of CAMS IFS numerical weather introduced on 2023-06-27 in McClear v3.6. Data prior to 2023-06-27 are unchanged. A new column SOAOD550 has been added to the csv output format of the expert mode. Bug fix in CAMS Radiation Service gap filling at sunset/sunrise. Bug in CAMS Radiation Service cloud type: cloud free instances were marked as low level clouds, now it is corrected to type 0. |
2022-09 | v4.5 | New version of the all-sky model. Version 4.5 uses a new clear sky model (McClear 3.5) and no bias correction anymore. The clear-sky model McClear 3.5 uses now the CAMS Reanalysis for 2004-2020. |
2021-06 | v4.0 | Since 2013, CAMS Radiation service used the cloud retrieval scheme APOLLO. The version 4.0 of CAMS Radiation Service includes a new version APOLLO Next Generation (APOLLO_NG) that improves cloud detection using fuzzy logic. New McClear v3.5 version using CAMS IFS reanalysis data. Fix in the MSG satellite projection handling for all data before 12/2017. A new global bias correction was implemented. |
2018-06 | v3.2 | Fix of a mathematical bug in the (latitude, longitude) position of the pixels of the Meteosat satellite images. |
2018-03 | v3.1 | CAMS McClear benefits from the successive enhancements of the Aerosol Optical Depth versions. McClear version, and consequently CAMS radiation service version as well, have been incremented from 3.0 to 3.1. Results are slightly modified in October 2012 and September-November 2015. |
2017-10 | v3 | McClear clear sky model v3 |
2015-10 | v2.7 | McClear v2.7 |
2015-07 | v2.6 | Bug fixed in verbose expert mode |
2015-02 | v2.6 | Bug fixed in the filling of MACC AOD databases |
2015-01 | v2.6 | Bug fixed bug for cloud coverage > 100% |
2014-11 | v2.5 | APOLLO data coverage extension: 2004-02-01 to D-2 |
2014-11 | v2.4 | Call to McClear v2.4 |
2014-08 | v2.3 | Call to McClear v2.3 Bug fixed in APOLLO data interpolation |
v2.2 | does not exist (synchronization with McClear versions) | |
2014-07 | v2.1 | Bug fixed for the shift of one pixel in APOLLO files import |
2013-07 | v2.0 | Edition format file version 1 |
How to acknowledge and cite the data
The use of the CAMS Radiation Service data should be acknowledged as indicated below:
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Dataset DOI and Citation
Please refer to the "References" section on the catalogue entry page of this dataset in the Atmosphere Data Store (ADS)
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(1) provide clear and visible attribution to the Copernicus programme by citing the web catalogue page:
CAMS solar radiation time-series. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) Atmosphere Data Store (ADS). (Accessed on DD-MMM-YYY), https://ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/datasets/cams-solar-radiation-timeseries?tab=overview
or
CAMS gridded solar radiation. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) Atmosphere Data Store (ADS). (Accessed on DD-MMM-YYY), https://ads.atmosphere.copernicus.eu/datasets/cams-gridded-solar-radiation?tab=overview
(2) acknowledge according to the data licence (i.e. licence to use Copernicus products (Clause 5 in particular)
(3) Cite the relevant peer-review publications for the the CAMS-Radiation Service:
Schroedter-Homscheidt, M., Azam, F., Betcke, J., Hanrieder, N., Lefèvre, M., Saboret, L., Saint-Drenan, Y.-M.: Surface solar irradiation retrieval from MSG/SEVIRI based on APOLLO Next Generation and HELIOSAT-4 methods, Contrib. Atm. Sci./Meteorol. Z.,2022, doi:10.1127/metz/2022/1132. Available for download at https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/metz/detail/31/101866/Surface_solar_irradiation_retrieval_from_MSG_SEVIRI_based_on_APOLLO_Next_Generation_and_HELIOSAT_4_methods.
and
Qu, Z., Oumbe, A., Blanc, P., Espinar, B., Gesell, G., Gschwind, B., Klüser, L., Lefèvre, M., Saboret, L., Schroedter-Homscheidt, M., and Wald L.: Fast radiative transfer parameterisation for assessing the surface solar irradiance: The Heliosat-4 method, Meteorol. Z., 26, 33-57, doi: 10.1127/metz/2016/0781,2017. Available for download at https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/metz/detail/26/87036/Fast_radiative_transfer_parameterisation_for_asses?af=crossref.
and for the CAMS clear-sky time series:
Gschwind, B., Wald L., Blanc, P., Lefèvre, M., Schroedter-Homscheidt, M., Arola, A., 2019. Improving the McClear model estimating the downwelling solar radiation at ground level in cloud free conditions – McClear-V3., Meteorol. Z./Contrib. Atm. Sci., 28, 2, 147-163, doi:10.1127/metz/2019/0946. Available for download at https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/metz/detail/28/90593/Improving_the_McClear_model_estimating_the_downwelling_solar_radiation_at_ground_level_in_cloud_free_conditions_McClear_v3
and
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as it provides the DOI number as well as details on dataset citation and attribution.
References
Gschwind, B., Wald L., Blanc, P., Lefèvre, M., Schroedter-Homscheidt, M., Arola, A., 2019. Improving the McClear model estimating the downwelling solar radiation at ground level in cloud free conditions – McClear-V3., Meteorol. Z./Contrib. Atm. Sci., 28, 2, 147-163, doi:10.1127/metz/2019/0946. Available for download at https://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/metz/detail/28/90593/Improving_the_McClear_model_estimating_the_downwelling_solar_radiation_at_ground_level_in_cloud_free_conditions_McClear_v3
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