Heliosat Solar

Screenshot from windprospecting.com showing coverage of the Heliosat Solar dataset.

Introduction

"Heliosat Solar" is a satelite based surface radiation dataset produced and delivered by CM SAF (Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring). The windPRO dataset is composed of two different datasets, namely:

• Surface Radiation Data Set - Heliosat (SARAH) - Edition 2.1 : This dataset covers the period from 1999-01-01 to 2017-12-31
• ICDR SEVIRI Radiation - based on SARAH-2 methods : This dataset is an operational dataset that covers the period from 2018-01-01 to present

The Validation report of the ICDR dataset concludes that there is a resonable consistency between the two datasets.

Dataset Overview

• Content:: Surface radition parameters to be used in Solar calculations in windPRO
• Spatial Resolution: The dataset is available on a regular geographical (lat/lon) grid at 0.05x0.05 resolution (around 5 km).
• Temporal Resolution: 30 minute values.
• Coverage: The dataset has an extend +- 65 degrees in both latetidues and longitudes. In windPRO, offshore coverage is at a distance of approximately 300 km from any known coastlines.
• Period: 20+ years. The EMD databases will hold data back to 1999.

Data Parameters

The windPRO dataset only contains parameters needed for solar calculations. The parameters are listed below.

Table: Overview of the Heliosat Solar parameters.

Parameter	Unit	Description
time		UTC time stamp (half hourly)
SIS	w/m2	Surface Incoming Shortwave Irradiance
SID	w/m2	Surface Irradiance Direct

All parameters are instantaneous. The two parameters SIS and SID can be used to calculate the diffuse radiation as SIS-SID = diffuse radiation.