Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/22957
Title: Effects of Aerosols and Clouds on the Levels of Surface Solar Radiation and Solar Energy in Cyprus
Authors: Fountoulakis, Ilias 
Kosmopoulos, Panagiotis 
Papachristopoulou, Kyriakoula 
Raptis, Ioannis Panagiotis 
Mamouri, Rodanthi-Elisavet 
Nisantzi, Argyro 
Gkikas, Antonis 
Witthuhn, Jonas 
Bley, Sebastian 
Moustaka, Anna 
Buehl, Johannes 
Seifert, Patric 
Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G. 
Kontoes, Charalampos 
Kazadzis, Stelios 
Major Field of Science: Engineering and Technology
Field Category: Civil Engineering
Keywords: Solar energy;Dust;Aerosol;Clouds;Cyprus
Issue Date: 2-Jun-2021
Source: Remote Sensing, 2021, vol. 13, no. 12, articl. no. 2319
Volume: 13
Issue: 12
Journal: Remote Sensing 
Abstract: Cyprus plans to drastically increase the share of renewable energy sources from 13.9% in 2020 to 22.9% in 2030. Solar energy can play a key role in the effort to fulfil this goal. The potential for production of solar energy over the island is much higher than most of European territory because of the low latitude of the island and the nearly cloudless summers. In this study, high quality and fine resolution satellite retrievals of aerosols and dust, from the newly developed MIDAS climatology, and information for clouds from CM SAF are used in order to quantify the effects of aerosols, dust, and clouds on the levels of surface solar radiation for 2004–2017 and the corresponding financial loss for different types of installations for the production of solar energy. Surface solar radiation climatology has also been developed based on the above information. Ground-based measurements were also incorporated to study the contribution of different species to the aerosol mixture and the effects of day-to-day variability of aerosols on SSR. Aerosols attenuate 5–10% of the annual global horizontal irradiation and 15–35% of the annual direct normal irradiation, while clouds attenuate 25–30% and 35–50% respectively. Dust is responsible for 30–50% of the overall attenuation by aerosols and is the main regulator of the variability of total aerosol. All-sky annual global horizontal irradiation increased significantly in the period of study by 2%, which was mainly attributed to changes in cloudiness.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/22957
ISSN: 20724292
DOI: 10.3390/rs13122319
Rights: © by the authors. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Type: Article
Affiliation : National Observatory of Athens 
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens 
Cyprus University of Technology 
ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence 
Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research 
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 
World Radiation Center 
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed
Appears in Collections:Άρθρα/Articles

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