Algorithm for solar radiation on mountain slopes

Abstract

A generalized algorithm provides the daily total of potential solar radiation on any sloping surface at any latitude. The algorithm can be coded as subroutines of a computer model that requires solar radiation as a variable. The required inputs are Julian dates and the latitude, inclination, and aspect of the slope. In addition to computing potential solar radiation, the routine provides estimates of actual radiation on any slope on the basis of measured solar radiation for a nearby horizontal surface that has the same cloud cover.