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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
Published online 5 January 2009 in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/joc.1849

Review
Hourly and daily clearness index and diffuse fraction at a
tropical station, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
E. C. Okogbue,a * J. A. Adedokunb and B. Holmgrenc
a Department of Meteorology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
b Departments of Physics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
c Meteorological Institute, Uppsala University, S-751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

ABSTRACT: Dataset consisting of hourly global and diffuse solar radiation measured over the period February 1992 and
December 2002 have been utilized to investigate the diurnal and seasonal variations of hourly and daily clearness index
together with the diffuse fraction at a tropical station Ile-Ife (7.5 ° N, 4.57 ° E), Nigeria. Statistical analysis (the frequency
and cumulative frequency distribution of the hourly and daily clearness index) and subsequent characterization of the sky
conditions over the station based on these were also done, and their implications for solar energy utilization in the area
discussed.
Daytime (11 : 00–15 : 00 LST) monthly mean hourly diffuse fraction, M d (explained in a separate ‘List of Symbols’
provided, along with other symbols used in this article), have values, which are most of the time less than 0.52, 0.54 and
0.60 respectively for January, February and March in the dry season. However, during the months of July and August
(which are typical of the wet season), the values range between 0.61 and 0.85 (being generally greater than 0.65) with the
corresponding values of the monthly mean hourly clearness index, M T , ranging between 0.23 and 0.45.
Statistical analysis of hourly and daily clearness index showed that the local sky conditions at the station were almost
devoid of clear skies and overcast skies (clear skies and overcast skies occurred for only about 3.5% and 4.8% of the time
respectively). The sky conditions were rather predominantly cloudy (cloudy skies occurred for about 88% of the time) all
the year round. Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society

KEY WORDS clearness index; diffuse fraction; tropical station sky conditions; Ile-Ife
Received 22 May 2007; Revised 26 November 2008; Accepted 1 December 2008

1. Introduction models (GCMs) (Stokes and Schwartz, 1994) and as

Solar radiation is received at the Earth’s surface under
different atmospheric conditions, which obviously affect
the amount and quality of radiation obtained at the ground
during the course of the day. Atmospheric conditions
such as, turbidity and transparency, air mass, atmospheric
water vapour content and layers and distribution of cloud
cover have been suggested to exert depleting influence
on solar radiation at the Earth’s surface, mainly by
absorption, scattering and reflection of the incoming solar
radiation.
Solar irradiance data is essential for studies on the
description of atmospheric phenomena and large-scale
weather analysis and prediction because the amount of
solar global radiation received on the Earth’s surface is
the driving force for most meteorological processes. For
example, solar radiation data is required in improving the
parameterization of clouds needed in general circulation
* Correspondence to: E. C. Okogbue, Department of Meteorology,
Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria.
E-mail: emokogbue@yahoo.co.uk
a valuable resource for validating the GCMs (Hansen,
1999; and Iziomon and Mayer, 2001). Information on
the geographical distribution and the changes with time
of the solar radiant energy on the Earth’s surface is a
requirement not only in weather and climate studies but
also in agricultural practice and food production, hydrol-
ogy, ecology and energy development programmes and
utilization, among others. Lack of adequate observations
on solar radiation has been a persistent problem in stud-
ies of land-surface processes and a major limitation in the
validation of crop growth simulation models (Thornton
and Running, 1999; Liu and Scott, 2001) and photosyn-
thesis models since the decomposition of solar irradiance
into its various components is now a key feature of sev-
eral canopy-scale models of photosynthesis (De Pury and
Farquhar, 1997).
The design, development and application of solar
energy collection and conversion systems required for
the exploitation of the vast energy of the Sun, and the
performance evaluation of such energy conversion sys-
tems within a particular region require information on the

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society

1036 E. C. OKOGBUE ET AL.
variation characteristics and distribution of the amount of
solar energy received at the location (Duffie and Beck-
man, 1991; Coppolino, 1994; and Ali et al., 2003). The
separation of solar irradiance into the various components
is also necessary for a wide range of these solar engineer-
ing tasks (Iqbal, 1983). For example, the knowledge of
the distribution of the diffuse fraction of solar radiation
(the ratio of the diffuse solar radiation to the global solar
radiation) is particularly required in assessing the climato-
logical potential of a locality for solar energy utilization
and in estimating the expected values of the output of
concentrating solar collectors (Iziomon and Aro (1998).
The clearness index (which is the ratio of the global
solar radiation measured at the surface to the total solar
radiation at the top of the atmosphere) is a veritable tool
in the characterization of sky conditions (or classifica-
tion of sky types) over a particular locality (Ideriah and
Suleman, 1989; Kuye and Jagtap, 1992; Okogbue and
Adedokun, 2002b). Synoptic cloud observations, though
very subjective, have remained the only source of infor-
mation on sky conditions for most parts of tropical Africa,
Nigeria inclusive, since there are no ground-based instru-
mentation systems to monitor them routinely and objec-
tively, and estimation procedures have only been estab-
lished for very few locations in the country due to lack of
the needed solar radiation components for characterizing
the sky conditions.
In spite of its significance, solar radiation, especially
the diffuse component, is infrequently measured com-
pared to other variables such as temperature and rain-
fall (Thornton and Running, 1999; Wilks and Wilby,
1999; Liu and Scott, 2001). Although, a prevailing dearth
in solar radiation data has been reported in a number
of countries like USA (Hook and McClendon, 1992),
Canada (De Jong and Stewart, 1993) and Australia (Liu
and Scott, 2001), it is however, in those parts of the
world naturally endowed with abundant availability of
solar energy all the year round (e.g. tropical Africa,
Nigeria inclusive) that its continuous and accurate mea-
surements are the least common. This is probably due
to the high cost of purchasing and maintaining the nec-
essary equipment, and the dearth of skilled personnel.
A number of studies have however, been reported in
Nigeria, notable among which are: Bamiro (1983) and
Ideriah and Suleman (1989); Adeyefa and Adedokun
(1991); Kuye and Jagtap (1992); Adedokun et al. (1994);
Maduekwe and Chendo (1995); Iziomon and Aro (1998,
1999); Adeyewa et al. (1995, 1997, 2002); Okogbue and
Adedokun (2002a,b, 2003); Okogbue et al. (2002) and
Jegede (1997a,b,c, 2003).
The present contribution investigates, with respect to
the prevailing atmospheric conditions over the station,
the diurnal and seasonal patterns of both the hourly and
daily clearness index and the cloudiness index (or dif-
fuse fraction) computed based on the measured hourly
fluxes of global and diffuse solar radiation at Ile-Ife,
Nigeria. The characterization of sky conditions over
the station using the clearness index is also investi-
gated.
Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society
2. Data and instrumentation
The solar radiation data reported in this work comprised
of hourly averaged values of both global and diffuse
radiation flux densities in units of Watt-hour per meter
squared (W h m−2 ) measured at Ile-Ife, Nigeria (7.5 ° N,
4.57 ° E) during the period March 1992 to December
2002. Since the collection of data relating to the above
period was continuous (except for some interruptions
when any of the instruments used was stopped for repairs
or recalibrations) it can be expected that inter-seasonal
variations will be manifested in the datasets.
The solar radiation measurement station which is
located on the rooftop of the 20-meter-high 3-storeyed
Department of Physics building located within the cam-
pus of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
comprised of two Kipp and Zonen pyranometers models
CM11 for the global radiation and CM11/121 (incorpo-
rating a shadow ring) for diffuse radiation and a LICOR
LI-210SA photometric sensor for the photometric illu-
minance. The altitude of the Physics building is about
275 m above sea level. The measuring site is, there-
fore, at about 300 m above sea level. The instruments
were installed and levelled on a horizontal surface at a
height of 1.5 m above an improvised flat concrete base
on the rooftop (Figure 1). The leads for the pyranometers
were directly connected to a Campbell Scientific micro
logger (model 21X) and data sampled every 1 min and
then subsequently averaged to produce the hourly val-
ues. Both devices were initially factory calibrated before
installation with measurement accuracy of about 2%.
Subsequently, further recalibrations have been carried
out locally by comparing the pyranometers with a more
recently calibrated CM11 pyranometer (Okogbue, 2007).
Data quality assurance checks were carried out with
reference to the diffuse fraction Kd (which is the ratio of
the diffuse solar radiation incident on a horizontal surface
to the global solar radiation incident on the same surface)
Figure 1. The Solar Radiation Station on the rooftop of the Physics
Department Building at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
This figure is available in colour online at www.interscience.wiley.
com/ijoc
Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
 ON CLEARNESS INDEX AND DIFFUSE FRACTION OF SOLAR RADIATION
and the clearness index KT (which is the ratio of the
global solar radiation measured at the surface to the total
solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere) as suggested
by Reindl et al. (1990) in order to ensure good diffuse
solar radiation data. In that respect, the following data
were excluded:
1. A day with even one missing hourly data (global or
diffuse).
2. Global solar radiation exceeding the extraterrestrial
radiation.
3. Diffuse fraction Kd > 1
4. Kd > 0.80, when KT > 0.60 (clear sky).
5. Kd < 0.90 when KT < 0.20 (overcast sky).
Case (iv) places a limit on the diffuse fraction under
clear-sky conditions, whereas case (v) places a limit on
the diffuse fraction under cloudy overcast sky conditions
as suggested in Reindl et al. (1990).
3. Meteorological features of the site
The area experiences tropical climate such that two major
seasons can be clearly identified which greatly influence
the daily weather patterns, namely: wet (April–October)
and dry (November–March) seasons. This change of sea-
sons occurs in association with the north–south (merid-
ional) movement of the Inter-Tropical Discontinuity
(ITD), which represents, at the surface, the demarcation
between the southwesterly and the northeasterly winds
over the sub-continent (Adejokun, 1966). At about the lat-
itudinal belt 7° N (representative of the position at Ile-Ife),
there frequently occur thunderstorm activities character-
istic of the wet season beginning from mid-March/April
(maximum about July/August) and extending till late
October during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Dur-
ing this period, the presence of thick clouds (e.g. cumu-
lus/cumulonimbus and nimbostratus clouds) and other
high water content clouds, which could average up to
6–7 oktas at 0900 h, local time, in the month of August
at the peak of the wet season (Griffiths, 1974) is a reg-
ular atmospheric phenomenon. The wet season is also
generally characterized by high moisture content of the
air. Consequently, the most important attenuators of solar
radiation during this period are clouds and water vapour
(Kyle, 1991; Jegede, 1997a,b; Okogbue and Adedokun,
2002b).
During the Northern Hemisphere winter, the ITD is
positioned north of the equator attaining a position about
4–6° N in January. During this time, the northeasterly
winds prevail to an elevation of about 3000 m and bring
cold, dry and stable continental air masses from the
desert region over which they originate. These winds
are locally called the ‘harmattan’ (Adedokun, 1978;
Balogun, 1981). Having had a long trajectory over
the desert, the harmattan winds advect tonnes of fine
dust to the region. The Harmattan dusts bring about
spells of hazy sky conditions (Kalu, 1978; Adedokun
Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society
1037
et al., 1989) or ‘dense dust veil’ (Mauder et al., 2007)
characteristic of the dry season in Nigeria. Adeyefa
et al. (1995) classified the harmattan period into periods
with ‘moderate’ characteristics (background harmattan)
and periods with intensive dust spells that could last
3–4 days or more (Kalu, 1978 and Adebayo, 1989).
The high aerosol loading of the atmosphere during this
season attenuates the solar radiation passing through the
atmosphere mainly by scattering with effects on the
heat budget of the Earth–atmosphere systems, which can
be very significant especially in the tropics where the
radiation balance is positive (El-Fandy, 1953; Kalu, 1978,
Jegede, 1997a,b).
4. Methodology
The flux of energy received from the Sun at the top
of the atmosphere, per unit of area, and per interval of
one hour (I0 ) and one day (H0 ) (required for calculation
of the hourly clearness index (MT ) and daily clearness
index (KT ) are respectively estimated analytically by the
familiar expressions according to Iqbal (1983) with the
solar constant ISC = 1367 W m−2 .
The diurnal and annual patterns of MT , KT , the hourly
diffuse fraction, (Md ), and the daily diffuse fraction,
(Kd ), are presented and discussed with reference to the
prevailing atmospheric conditions over the area.
Furthermore, statistical analysis (the frequency and
cumulative frequency distribution of the hourly and daily
clearness index) and subsequent characterization of the
sky conditions over the station based on these have been
done following the pioneering work of Liu and Jordan
(1960) and those of Li et al., 2004. For instance, Liu
and Jordan (1960) had shown that the information on the
daily clearness index, (KT ), could also be presented as
cumulative frequency, f (KT ), in percentage as follows:
number of days with K T ≤ KT (f ixed value)
f =
number of days in the month
× 100% (1)
Using data from a network of 27 stations, each with
approximately 5 years of data, Liu and Jordan (1960)
proposed, based on Equation (1), a set of generalized
KT cumulative distribution curves (CDC), which have
been used in many studies since then. The claim of the
universal applicability of the generalized CDC by Liu and
Jordan (1960) has been queried by typical results obtained
by Hawas and Muneer (1984); Saunier et al. (1987);
Ideriah and Suleman (1989); Kuye and Jagtap (1992) for
some tropical locations in India, Bangkok in Thailand,
Ibadan and Port Harcourt, in Nigeria, respectively.
In terms of sky conditions classification, the clear-
ness index is a widely used index since it depends only
on global solar irradiance (i.e. one measured parameter)
(Muneer, 1995, 1998; Li et al., 2004). Low clearness
index means low global solar radiation, which usually
represents a cloudy sky with a high portion of diffuse
Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
1038 E. C. OKOGBUE ET AL.

component. Large clearness index means high global (a) 0.6

solar radiation, which is dominated by the direct compo- January 93
0.5
nent. There are however, no clear-cut KT values to define 94

Clearness Index (MT)

the sky conditions. Different researchers have there- 0.4 95
fore adopted different values. For instance, Reindl et al. 96
(1990) have proposed KT > 0.6 and KT < 0.2 for clear 0.3
97
sky and cloudy sky, respectively. Li and Lam (2001) and
0.2 98
Li et al. (2004) used KT values of 0–0.15, >0.15–0.7
and >0.7 to define overcast, partly cloudy and clear skies 0.1 2000

respectively in Hong Kong and Kuye and Jagtap (1992) 2002

used KT > 0.65 and 0.12 ≤ KT ≤ 0.35, respectively, for 0
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
very clear skies and cloudy skies, to classify the sky con- Local Time (hours)
ditions at Port Harcourt, Nigeria. For this work, KT (or
MT ) values of 0 ≤ KT (MT ) ≤ 0.15, 0.15 ≤ KT (MT ) ≤ (b) 1
93
0.60, 0.6 ≤ KT (MT ) ≤ ∞ were used to define overcast, January

partly cloudy and clear-sky conditions based on our field 0.9 94

experiences.

Diffuse Fraction (Md)

95
0.8
96
0.7
5. Results and discussions 97

5.1. Diurnal variations of the clearness index and 0.6 98

diffuse fraction
In Figures 2, 3 and 4 are presented plots of the diurnal
variation of the monthly means of hourly clearness
index and diffuse fraction (or cloudiness index) for
the months of January, February and March which are
representative of the dry season. It is obvious from
Figures 2, 3 and 4 that the clearness index has very
low values during the hours close to sunrise and sunset,
with values ranging between 0.09 and 0.33. The diffuse
fraction on the other hand, has rather very high values
during such hours (ranging between 0.77 and 0.99) with
the obvious implication that the solar radiation received
at the surface during the hours close to sunrise and
sunset consist mainly of the diffuse component. This is
consistent with the dependence of diffuse solar radiation
reaching the surface on solar elevation and atmospheric
turbidity, air mass, atmospheric water vapour content
and layers and distribution of cloud cover (Iziomon and
Aro, 1999). During the hours close to sunset or sunrise,
the angle between the incoming solar beam and the
receiving surface is rather large and hence the solar
beam must pass through a large amount of atmospheric
mass with varying atmospheric constituents and hence is
significantly scattered and reflected (Okogbue, 2007).
During the period about local noon, when the sun
is overhead or near-overhead, as the case may be, the
values of clearness index rise to their maximum (ranging
from 0.50 to 0.57, 0.57 to 0.62, and 0.48 to 0.60 for the
months of January, February and March, respectively)
(Figures 2, 3 and 4). The diffuse fractions, on the other
hand, fall to their minimum values (ranging from 0.45
to 0.54, 0.44 to 0.55, and 0.49 to 0.64 for the months
of January, February and March, respectively). Again,
this is because the solar beam passes through a single
or relatively thin atmospheric thickness, and therefore,
encounters relatively less atmospheric constituents, and
hence, experiences less scattering and reflection, resulting
2000
0.5
2002
0.4
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Local Time (hours)
Figure 2. Diurnal Variation of monthly means of: (a) hourly clearness
index, and (b) diffuse fraction for the month of January in the dry
season.
in less of the diffuse component of the solar radiation
being incident on the surface.
Furthermore, during the daytime from about 1100 to
1500 LST, the monthly mean hourly diffuse fraction,
M d , has values, which are most of the time less than
0.52, 0.54 and 0.60 respectively for January, Febru-
ary and March, indicating that the direct (beam) irra-
diance constitutes a relatively significant proportion of
the global solar irradiance reaching the ground dur-
ing these months. Molecular scattering due to atmo-
spheric constituents prevalent during this period which
Adeyefa et al. (1995) have described as the harmattan
period with ‘moderate’ characteristics (background har-
mattan) and, to a lesser extent, surface albedo, are mainly
responsible for diffuse irradiance reaching the ground at
these times, especially for the months of January and
February.
The implication of this for solar energy utilization
is that solar concentrators that make use of parabolic
mirrors are expected to have relatively high perfor-
mance during these months at Ile-Ife. However, in
the event of appreciable cloudiness or albedo, as is
the case sometimes in the month of March (which
is a transition month from the dry to the wet sea-
son in the area), the radiation scattered by these
clouds and reflected by the underlying surface would

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
 ON CLEARNESS INDEX AND DIFFUSE FRACTION OF SOLAR RADIATION 1039

(a) 0.7 (a) 0.7

March 92
February 93
0.6 0.6
93
Clearness Index (MT)

Clearness Index (MT)

0.5 94
0.5 95
0.4 95
0.4 96
0.3 96
97
0.3
0.2
98 98
0.2
0.1
2000 2001
0 0.1
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Local Time (hours) Local Time (hours)

(b) 1 (b) 1
February 93 March
93
0.9 0.9
94
Diffuse Fraction (Md)

94

Diffuse Fraction (Md)

0.8 95 0.8
96
0.7 96 0.7

97 97
0.6 0.6
98 98
0.5 0.5
2000
2000
0.4
0.4
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Local Time (hours) Local Time (hours)

Figure 3. Diurnal Variation of monthly means of: (a) hourly clearness Figure 4. Diurnal Variation of monthly means of: (a) hourly clearness
index, and (b) diffuse fraction for the month of February in the dry index, and (b) diffuse fraction for the month of March in the dry season.
season.

between 0.23 and 0.45 (Figures 5 and 6) during the

cause a notable rise in the incoming diffuse radia-
tion (Okogbue, 2007). Iziomon and Aro, 1998 have
reported daytime values of Kd with values generally
lower than 0.50 for the months of February, November
and March for Ilorin, a tropical station in North Central
Nigeria.
Figures 5 and 6 depict the diurnal variation of the
monthly means of hourly clearness index and diffuse
fraction (or cloudiness index) for the months of July
and August which are typical of the wet season. It is
also clear from Figures 5 and 6 that the clearness index,
M T has very low values for both months during the
hours close to sunrise and sunset, with values ranging
between 0.10 and 0.32 for July and 0.11 and 0.28 for
August. The cloudiness index (or diffuse fraction), M d
on the other hand, has values ranging between 0.87 and
0.99 for July and 0.80 and 0.99 for August. This is
the same trend that was observed for the dry months
(Figures 2–4) with the obvious implication that the solar
radiation received at the surface during the hours close
to sunrise and sunset in both seasons consist mainly of
the diffuse component.
The monthly mean hourly diffuse fraction, M d has
values ranging between 0.61 and 0.85 over the period
1100–1500 hours for July and August (being gener-
ally greater than 0.65) with the corresponding values
of monthly mean hourly clearness index, M T , ranging
day. This again signifies the high proportion of dif-
fuse component of the total irradiance arriving on the
ground during these months, which are typical of the
wet season. Iziomon and Aro (1998) who reported simi-
lar values for Ilorin (M T values ranging between 0.35
and 0.48, and M d values generally greater than 0.62
during the day for the months of July and August)
attributed the high proportion of the diffuse component
during the wet season to the intense forward scatter-
ing of beam radiation by altocumulus and altostratus
clouds. Under a cloudy sky, the magnitude of the dif-
fuse radiation flux reaching the ground depends essen-
tially on the amount, type and distribution of clouds.
In the presence of cirrus, altostratus and altocumulus
clouds, diffuse irradiance has been reported to increase
with the increase in cloudiness (Kondratyev, 1969). The
value of solar radiation components received at the
ground surface depends, therefore, on the clarity (trans-
parency) or cloudiness (turbidity) of the atmosphere,
and hence the clearness index (M T = II ) and the dif-
o
fuse ratio (or cloudiness index) (M d = II ) can respec-
d
tively be used to define or quantify the clearness or
the turbidity/cloudiness of the atmosphere (Biga and
Rosa, 1981; Ideriah and Suleman, 1989 and Iziomon
and Aro, 1999; Babatunde and Aro, 2000; Babatunde,
2005).

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
1040 E. C. OKOGBUE ET AL.

(a) 0.5 (a) 0.45

92 August 92
July
0.45 0.4
93
93

Clearness Index (MT)

0.4 0.35
94
Clearness Index (MT)

94
0.35 0.3 96
96
0.3 0.25 97
97 98
0.25 0.2
98 99
0.2 0.15
99 2000
0.15 0.1
2000 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
0.1 Local Time (hours)
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Local Time (hours) (b) 1
August 92
0.95
(b) 1 93
July 92 0.9

Diffuse Fraction (Md)

0.95 94
93 0.85
0.9 96
Diffuse Fraction (Md)

0.8
94
0.85 97
0.75
96
0.8 98
0.7
97 99
0.75
0.65
98 2000
0.7 0.6
99 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
0.65
Local Time (hours)
2000
0.6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Figure 6. Diurnal Variation of monthly means of: (a) hourly clearness
Local Time (hours) index, and (b) diffuse fraction for the month of August in the wet
season.
Figure 5. Diurnal Variation of monthly means of: (a) hourly clearness
index, and (b) diffuse fraction for the month of July in the wet season.
600.00
Global
1992 - 2002
5.2. Annual pattern of daily solar radiation fluxes and Diffuse
the solar radiation ratios (clearness index and diffuse
Solar radiation fluxes (W m-2)

500.00
fraction)
The daily means of global and diffuse solar radia-
400.00
tion measured at Ile-Ife, Nigeria averaged over the 11-
year period of data (1992–2002) are presented as time
series in Figure 7. For the period, the mean of the 300.00
daily global and diffuse solar radiation are 367.51 ±
62.12 W m−2 day−1 and 232.66 ± 27.68 W m−2 day−1 ,
respectively. From Figure 7, it can be observed that the 200.00

annual variation of the global solar radiation for the

period showed a bimodal distribution with peak val-
ues of about 490.89 W m−2 day−1 and 471, with 80 W
m−2 day−1 in March/early April and November respec-
tively and a minima of about 196.24 W m−2 day−1
about July/August which is at the peak of the mon-
soon. The diffuse solar radiation followed a similar pat-
tern.
Figure 8 depicts the annual pattern of the daily clear-
ness index and diffuse fraction and the corresponding
monthly averages respectively. It is clear from Figure 8
that both the daily and monthly average daily clearness
index and diffuse fractions follow the same annual pattern
with the curve of the diffuse fraction being an inversion of
the curve of the clearness index. An interesting feature is
that within the five months of June to October the param-
eters, KT and Kd , have an almost regular bell-shaped
100.00
1 31 61 91 121 151 181 211 241 271 301 331 361
Day of the Year (DOY)
Figure 7. Daily averaged global and diffuse solar radiation at Ile-Ife
(7.5 ° N, 4.57 ° E), Nigeria, 1992–2002.
distribution with a prominent peak/depression occurring
about the month of July/August for both the daily and
monthly average cases as earlier observed by (Ideriah
and Suleman, 1989). The daily diffuse fraction and the
monthly mean daily diffuse fraction both had their peak
values of about 0.99 and 0.84, respectively, in August
during the wet season. The daily and monthly average
daily clearness index had their minimum values of 0.23
and 0.31 in July and August respectively.

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
 ON CLEARNESS INDEX AND DIFFUSE FRACTION OF SOLAR RADIATION 1041

(a) 1 Table I. Average monthly diffuse ratios for months with

relatively similar atmospheric and sky conditions (1992–2002).
0.9 Data Period (1992 - 2002) Values in parenthesis are values obtained for Ilorin, Nigeria,
0.8 (Iziomon and Aro, 1998) inserted for comparison.
0.7
Dust-haze months Kd Values
KT = H/H0, Kd = Hd/H

0.6
Individual (%) Average (%)
0.5
December, January 60, 56 58
0.4 (58)
0.3
Partly hazy, partly
cloudy and partly
0.2 clear-sky months
February, March, 61, 62, 53 59
0.1 H/Ho Hd/H
November
0 (53)a
1 31 61 91 121 151 181 211 241 271 301 331 361 Less Cloudy Sky Months
Day Number
April, May, June, 64, 61, 63, 62 62
(b) 0.9 October
(60)
0.8 (1992- 2002)
Very Cloudy Sky Months
0.7 July, August, September 75, 84, 75 78
(72)
0.6

0.5 Note: Values in parenthesis are values obtained for Ilorin, Nigeria,
KT, Kd

(Iziomon and Aro, 1998).

0.4 a Clear sky.

0.3

0.2 5.3. Frequency and commutative frequency

KT
0.1
0 The frequency of occurrence and cumulative frequency
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Months
Figure 8. Annual Pattern of: (a) daily clearness index (KT ), and
(b) diffuse fraction (Kd ) for the period 1992–2002 at Ile-Ife.
The mean monthly diffuse ratios for the set of months
with relatively similar atmospheric and sky conditions at
this location have also been estimated and are presented
in Table I. Values obtained for Ilorin, Nigeria by Iziomon
and Aro (1998) have also been inserted in Table I for
comparison. The monthly mean daily Kd values vary
from 58% for relatively dust-haze months to 59% for
the set of partly cloudy, partly hazy and partly clear-sky
months to 62 and 78% for the set of less cloudy and
cloudy and wet months, respectively (Table I). Iziomon
and Aro (1998) reported for Ilorin, Nigeria and for the
period 1993 and 1994, mean Kd values varying from 53%
for a set of relatively clear months, to 58% for a set of
dust-haze months, 60% for a set of less cloudy months,
and 71% for mainly cloudy and wet months. Clearly,
our observation at Ile-Ife revealed that the very cloudy
months are July, August and September instead of June,
July and August observed by Iziomon and Aro (1998)
for Ilorin. Again, at Ile-Ife by February, March and
November atmospheric conditions are partly hazy, partly
cloudy and partly clear, these months being transition
months, whereas for Ilorin the conditions are relatively
clear (Iziomon and Aro, 1998).
Kd
distribution of hourly clearness index MT
distributions for every 0.05 interval of hourly and daily
clearness index have been plotted as column and line
graphs on annual and seasonal basis as shown in
Figures 9, 10 and 11. The frequency table (Table II) is
also presented for ease of reference, and the cumulative
frequency distribution is shown to get a feel for the fre-
quency of occurrence of different sky conditions. From
Figures 9(a), 10(a), 11(a) and Table II, the distribution of
hourly clearness index, MT , has a marked peak value at
the 0.5–0.55 MT interval, and there are more data at the
MT values between 0.2 and 0.6 (above 88% of the time),
which represents cloudy sky with high diffuse radiation.
From the cumulative frequency distribution (Figures 9(b)
10(b) and 11(b)) at MT > 0.6, the cumulative frequencies
are 97.4, 99.7 and 94.1% for the annual, wet and dry sea-
sons, respectively. These indicate that the local sky over
Ile-Ife is clear for only about 3% of the time, and this
occurs mostly during the dry season. Also, the cumula-
tive frequencies at MT = 0.15 (the condition for overcast
sky) are 4.8, 5.5 and 4.8% for the annual, wet and dry
seasons, respectively.
Apart from clouds, atmospheric turbidity due to the
high loading of the atmosphere by aerosols, especially
the harmattan dust and other pollutants resulting from
anthropogenic activities such as road construction and
wood processing over the area could result in a large
scattering of global solar irradiance resulting in a very
high proportion of it in the diffuse component, which
an overcast sky represents. So, an overcast sky could

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
1042 E. C. OKOGBUE ET AL.

(a) 16.0 (a) 16.0

1992 - 2002 1992 - 2002
14.0 14.0
N = 1188
Frequency of Occurrence (%)

Frequency of Occurrence (%)

N = 1188
12.0 12.0

10.0 10.0

8.0 8.0

6.0 6.0

4.0 4.0

2.0 2.0

0.0 0.0
05 5
1- 1
15 5
2- 2
25 5
3- 3
35 5
4- 4
45 5
5- 5
55 5
6- 6
65 5
7- 7
>0.75
5

05 5
1- 1
15 5
2- 2
25 5
3- 3
35 5
4- 4
45 5
5- 5
55 5
6- 6
65 5
7- 7
>0.75
5
0. 0.0
0. -0.
0. 0.1
0. -0.
0. 0.2
0. -0.
0. 0.3
0. -0.
0. 0.4
0. -0.
0. 0.5
0. -0.
0. 0.6
0. -0.

.7

0. 0.0
0. -0.
0. 0.1
0. -0.
0. 0.2
0. -0.
0. 0.3
0. -0.
0. 0.4
0. -0.
0. 0.5
0. -0.
0. 0.6
0. -0.

.7
0

0
0-

0-
0.

0.
Hourly Clearness Index (MT) Hourly Clearness Index (MT)

(b) 100.0 (b) 100.0

90.0 1992 - 2002 1992 - 2002
90.0
80.0 80.0
Cumulative Frequency (%)

70.0 Cumulative Frequency (%) 70.0

60.0 60.0
50.0 50.0
40.0 40.0
30.0 30.0
20.0 20.0
10.0 10.0
0.0 0.0
05

15

25

35

45

55

65

75
1

7
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

05

15

25

35

45

55

65

75
1

7
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.
Hourly Clearness Index (MT)
Hourly Clearness Index (MT)

Figure 9. (a) Frequency of occurrence, and (b) cumulative frequency Figure 10. (a) Frequency of occurrence, and (b) cumulative frequency
of hourly clearness index (MT ) at Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002 (N of hourly clearness index (MT ) at Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002
represents total number of hours considered). (wet season) (N represents the number of hours considered).

actually also refer to sky conditions under very intense

dust spells and not just cloudiness.
5.4. Frequency and commutative frequency
distribution of daily clearness index KT
Frequency tables for every 0.05 interval of daily clearness
index, KT , have also been similarly established as shown
in Table III and the daily frequency of occurrence and
cumulative frequency distributions plotted also on annual,
wet and dry seasons basis as depicted in Figures 12, 13
and 14 respectively. Clearly, the pattern of daily KT is
fairly evenly distributed, with peaks about the 0.45–0.5
KT interval for the annual and wet season distributions,
respectively, and 0.5–0.55 for the dry season. There
are also more data at the KT values between 0.2 and
0.6 (about 89% of the time) as was the case with
the hourly clearness index MT , which represents cloudy
sky with high diffuse solar radiation. Similarly, the
cumulative frequencies at KT = 0.15 are 1.5, 2.3 and
0.3%, respectively, for the annual, wet and dry seasons
(Figures 12(a), 13(a) and 14(a)). This again implies that
the local sky over Ile-Ife is overcast only for about 1.5%
of the time (representing only 40 days in the 11-year
period of data). For KT = 0.6, the cumulative frequencies
are 95.0, 94.2 and 95.5%, respectively, for the annual,
wet and dry seasons. Again, this implies that the local
sky over Ile-Ife is clear only for about 5% (which
represents only 154 days out of the 3076 days under
consideration). It can therefore be inferred from both
hourly and daily clearness index classification of the sky
conditions over Ile-Ife that clear and overcast skies are
very rare over the station, and that the local sky over
Ile-Ife is predominantly cloudy all the year round.
5.5. Monthly KT Cumulative Distribution Curves
Following the work of Liu and Jordan (1960), the cumu-
lative frequency, f (in percentage) of daily KT within the
month, has also been computed using Equation (1) as
shown in Table IV. The climate in Nigeria can be broadly
divided into two seasons, namely, dry season (Novem-
ber–March/April) and wet season (April/May–October).
If we define our ‘cloudy’ days by KT ≤ 0.35 and
‘very clear’ days by KT ≥ 0.65 as was done by Kuye

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
 ON CLEARNESS INDEX AND DIFFUSE FRACTION OF SOLAR RADIATION 1043

(a) 20.0 Table II. Frequency Distribution of Hourly Clearness Index

18.0
1992- 2002 (Dry season) (MT ) over Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002.
N = 492
Frequency of occurrence (%)

16.0
MT interval Frequency of Percentage
14.0 occurrence frequency (%)
12.0
Annual Wet Dry Annual Wet Dry
10.0

8.0 0.0–0.05 14 2 12 1.2 0.3 2.4

0.05–0.1 18 9 9 1.5 1.3 1.8
6.0
0.1–0.15 25 19 6 2.1 2.7 1.2
4.0 0.15–0.2 51 35 16 4.3 5.0 3.3
2.0 0.2–0.25 83 52 31 7.0 7.5 6.3
0.0
0.25–0.3 89 63 26 7.5 9.1 5.3
0.3–0.35 131 101 30 11.0 14.5 6.1

5
0. .05
0. -0.1
0. .15
0. -0.2
0. .25
0. -0.3
0. .35
0. -0.4
0. .45
0. -0.5
0. .55
0. -0.6
0. .65
0. -0.7

>0 75
.7
0.35–0.4 165 123 42 13.9 17.7 8.5

0.
0

0
05

15

25

35

45

55

65
0-

1-

2-

3-

4-

5-

6-

7-
0.

0.4–0.45 157 100 57 13.2 14.4 11.6

Hourly Clearness Index (MT)
(b) 100.0
0.45–0.5 149 83 66 12.5 11.9 13.4
1992- 2002 (Dry season) 0.5–0.55 178 85 93 15.0 12.2 18.9
90.0
0.55–0.6 97 22 75 8.2 3.2 15.2
80.0 0.6–0.65 24 2 22 2.0 0.3 4.5
Cumulative Frequency (%)

70.0 0.65–0.7 5 0 5 0.4 0.0 1.0

0.7–0.75 1 0 1 0.1 0.0 0.2
60.0
>0.75 1 0 1 0.1 0.0 0.2
50.0 Total 1188 696 492 100.0 100 100.0
40.0

30.0

20.0 Table III. Frequency distribution of daily clearness index (KT )

10.0 over Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002.
0.0
KT interval Frequency of Percentage
75
05

15

25

35

45

55

65

75
1

7
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

occurrence frequency (%)

>

Hourly Clearness Index (MT)

Annual Wet Dry Annual Wet Dry
Figure 11. (a) Frequency of occurrence, and (b) cumulative frequency
of hourly clearness index (MT ) at Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002 0.0–0.05 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
(dry season) (N represents the number of hours considered). 0.05–0.1 7 1 6 0.2 0.1 0.3
0.1–0.15 40 3 37 1.3 0.2 2.0
0.15–0.2 68 1 67 2.2 0.1 3.6
and Jagtap (1992) and Ideriah and Suleman (1989), then
0.2–0.25 118 5 113 3.8 0.4 6.1
it is also obvious from Table IV that the frequency of 0.25–0.3 199 13 186 6.5 1.1 10.1
cloudy days is quite high for Ile-Ife ranging from 12.5% 0.3–0.35 245 32 213 8.0 2.6 11.6
in May to 64.5% in August with August as the most 0.35–0.4 294 76 218 9.6 6.2 11.8
cloudy of the months. Kuye and Jagtap (1992) using 0.4–0.45 435 171 264 14.1 13.8 14.3
13 years data obtained similar results for Port Harcourt 0.45–0.5 553 296 257 18.0 24.0 14.0
with the frequency of cloudy days ranging from 31.8% in 0.5–0.55 546 322 224 17.8 26.1 12.2
May to 58.1% in August. This shows that Port Harcourt 0.55–0.6 417 243 174 13.6 19.7 9.5
experiences more cloudy days during the early part of the 0.6–0.65 128 61 67 4.2 4.9 3.6
wet season in May than Ile-Ife, with Ile-Ife being more 0.65–0.7 26 11 15 0.8 0.9 0.8
cloudy than Port Harcourt at the peak of the wet season 0.7–0.75 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
>0.75 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
in August.
Total 3076 1235 1841 100.0 100.0 100.0
We can also deduce from Table IV that ‘very clear’
days (KT ≥ 0.65) are rare in Ile-Ife, ranging only from
3.1% in May (the atmosphere having just been cleansed
of the turbid harmattan dust by the rains) to 4.2% in patterns and four rainy season patterns, namely: Novem-
November (being a transition month from the wet to the ber, December, January (NDJ) and February, March,
dry season is relatively devoid of clouds which charac- April (FMA) for the dry season; and August (A); July
terise the wet season and dust which are characteristics and September (JS); June and October (JO); and May
of the dry season). (M) for the rainy season. Ideriah and Suleman (1989)
Based on the calculated monthly average clearness and Kuye and Jagtap (1992) have identified similar sea-
index KT , the monthly variations of f and the prevalent sonal patterns for Ibadan and Port Harcourt respectively.
climatic conditions, six seasonal patterns can be identi- The monthly KT values for the different months and the
fied at Ile-Ife. These consist of two distinct dry season average value for each of the identified seasonal patterns

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
1044 E. C. OKOGBUE ET AL.

(a) 20.0 (a) 16.0

18.0 1992 - 2002 1992 - 2002 (Wet Season)

14.0
Frequency of occurrence (%)

Frequency of Occurrence (%)

16.0 N =1841
N = 3076 12.0
14.0
10.0
12.0
10.0 8.0

8.0 6.0
6.0
4.0
4.0
2.0
2.0
0.0 0.0

0. .05
0. -0.1
0. .15
0. -0.2
0. .25
0. -0.3
0. .35
0. -0.4
0. .45
0. -0.5
0. .55
0. -0.6
0. .65
0. -0.7

>0 75
5
05 5
0. -0.1
0. .15
0. -0.2
0. .25
0. -0.3
0. .35
0. -0.4
0. .45
0. -0.5
0. .55
0. -0.6
0. .65
0. -0.7

>0 75
5

.7
0

.7

0.
0

0
0.

0.

05

15

25

35

45

55

65
0

0-

1-

2-

3-

4-

5-

6-

7-
15

25

35

45

55

65
0-

1-

2-

3-

4-

5-

6-

7-

0.
0.
0.

Daily Clearness Index (KT) Daily Clearness Index (KT)

(b) 100
(b) 100.0
90 1992 - 2002 (Wet Season)
90.0 1992 - 2002
80

Cumulative Frequency (%)

80.0
Cumulative Frequency (%)

70
70.0
60
60.0
50
50.0
40
40.0
30
30.0
20
20.0
10
10.0
0
0.0
05

15

25

35

45

55

65

75
1

7
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.
05

15

25

35

45

55

65

75
1

7
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

Daily Clearness Index (KT)

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

Daily clearness index (KT)

Figure 12. (a) Frequency of occurrence, and (b) cumulative frequency
of daily clearness index (KT ) at Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002 (N
represents total number of days considered).
are shown in Table V, with the corresponding values cal-
culated for Ibadan for the period (1975–1980) (Ideriah
and Suleman, 1989) and Port Harcourt for the period
(1977–1989) (Kuye and Jagtap, 1992) also included for
comparison.
Kuye and Jagtap (1992) identified five instead of
the six seasonal KT patterns, since for Port Harcourt,
the average KT value for M is equal to that of the
second period in the dry season FMA. The plots of the
cumulative frequency, f, corresponding to each of the six
seasonal, monthly clearness index patterns (NDJ, FMA,
A, JS, JO and M), which Liu and Jordan (1960) termed
monthly CDCs are shown in Figure 15. For comparison,
the JS curves of KT = 0.39 and 0.36 for Ibadan (Ideriah
and Suleman, 1989) and Port Harcourt (Kuye and Jagtap,
1992), respectively, have also been inserted in Figure 15.
Though the degree of cloudiness of the local sky at
Port Harcourt and Ibadan vary for the different months
from that at Ile-Ife as shown in Table V, Figure 15 shows
that the shapes of the KT CDC though distinct, one from
the other, are in agreement. The curves are orderly from
KT = 0.31 to 0.50 and the present pattern, which also
agrees with results obtained at other tropical locations
like Ibadan (Ideriah and Suleman, 1989), Port Harcourt
Figure 13. (a) Frequency of occurrence, and (b) cumulative frequency
of daily clearness index (KT ) at Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002 (wet
season) (N represents total number of days considered).
(Kuye and Jagtap, 1992) and Ilorin (Udoh, 2000) and are
different from those obtained for twenty-seven cities in
the USA and Canada by Liu and Jordan (1960).
The results obtained by Liu and Jordan (1960) gave
much higher values of KT (usually up to 0.8 or more)
for each of the monthly average KT , which indicates the
abundance of very clear skies in those cities they reported
on, whereas, it has been clearly shown in this study that
clear skies are rare in Ile-Ife which is a tropical location.
The claim of the universal applicability of the Liu and
Jordan’s CDC curves has been questioned by earlier
typical results obtained by Hawas and Muneer (1984);
Saunier et al. (1987); Ideriah and Suleman (1989); Kuye
and Jagtap (1992) and Udoh (2000) for some tropical
locations in India, Bangkok in Thailand, Ibadan, Port
Harcourt, and Ilorin in Nigeria, respectively. This study
therefore corroborates their findings.
One major implication of this is that solar energy
concentrating devices which make use of incident beam
radiation whose availability at the surface depends on
how clear the sky is, will not be as effective (in fact will
not be effective) in Ile-Ife and similar tropical locations
as they would be at the cities studied by Liu and Jordan
(1960). Consequently, the use of such solar devices that
are designed based on the CDCs of Liu and Jordan in

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
 ON CLEARNESS INDEX AND DIFFUSE FRACTION OF SOLAR RADIATION 1045

(a) 30.0 6. Conclusions

1992-2002 (Dry Season)
25.0 Hourly global and diffuse solar radiation data measured
Frequency of Occurrence (%)

N = 1235 during the period 1992–2002 on top of the Physics

20.0 Department building at Obafemi Awolowo University
Ile-Ife, Nigeria, have been used to calculate the hourly
15.0 and daily clearness index and diffuse fraction at the
station. It has been established that during the daytime
10.0 from about 1100 to 1500 LST, the monthly mean hourly
diffuse fraction, M d , has values, which are, most of
5.0 the time, less than 0.52, 0.54 and 0.60, respectively,
for January, February and March indicating that the
0.0 direct (beam) irradiance constitute a relatively significant
0. 0.05
0. -0.1
0. 0.15
0. -0.2
0. 0.25
0. -0.3
0. 0.35
0. -0.4
0. 0.45
0. -0.5
0. 0.55
0. -0.6
0. 0.65
0. -0.7

>0 75
5
proportion of the global solar irradiance reaching the

.7
0.
05

15

25

35

45

55

65
0-

1-

2-

3-

4-

5-

6-

7-
ground during these months. Molecular scattering due
0.

Daily Clearness Index (KT) to the aerosol loading of the atmosphere prevalent during
(b) 100
this period are mainly responsible for diffuse irradiance
1992 - 2002 (Dry Season) reaching the ground at these times, especially for the
90
months of January and February. Again, during the
80
Cumulative Frequency (%)

months of July and August (which are typical of the wet

70 season), the monthly mean hourly diffuse fraction, M d ,
60 has values ranging between 0.61 and 0.85 over the period
50 1100–1500 LST (being generally greater than 0.65) with
40
the corresponding values of M T ranging between 0.23
and 0.45 during the day. This again signifies the high
30
proportion of diffuse component of the total irradiance
20 arriving on the ground during these months, which is a
10 result of the intense forward scattering of beam radiation
0 by altocumulus and altostratus clouds.
Statistical analysis of hourly and daily clearness index
05
1
15
2
25
3
35
4
45
5
55
6
65
7
75

5
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

.7
0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.

0.
>0

Daily Clearness Index (KT)

Figure 14. (a) Frequency of occurrence, and (b) cumulative frequency
of daily clearness index (KT ) at Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002 (dry
season) (N represents total number of days considered).
tropical locations need to be reconsidered in the light of
this and other findings based on measurements from the
area.
showed that the local sky conditions at the station were
almost devoid of clear skies (clear skies occurred for only
about 3.5% of the time). Overcast skies were also very
scarce (overcast skies occurred for only about 4.8% of
the time). The sky conditions were rather predominantly
cloudy (cloudy skies occurred for above 72% of the time)
all the year round.
The study has, therefore, shown that there is high
proportion of diffuse component of the total irradiance
arriving on the ground at the station all the year round

Table IV. Monthly percentage cumulative frequency, f, of the daily clearness index KT and monthly average values of the
clearness index, KT over Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002 (f is computed using Equation (1)).

Values of f for KT ≤ KT (fixed value) Monthly Average KT

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Jan. (257) 0.0 0.0 1.6 5.8 20.6 78.2 99.6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.46
Feb. (213) 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.4 3.8 39.4 95.8 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.51
March (266) 0.0 1.1 3.8 6.4 11.3 52.6 95.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.49
April (235) 0.0 4.3 8.1 10.2 14.5 47.2 95.3 98.7 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.48
May (257) 0.0 2.3 5.8 12.5 23.0 49.8 86.0 96.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.48
June (269) 0.0 3.3 11.2 20.1 33.8 66.2 96.7 99.6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.44
July (297) 0.0 11.4 40.4 59.3 74.4 93.9 99.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.33
Aug. (279) 1.0 11.5 45.8 64.5 78.5 97.5 99.3 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.31
Sept. (270) 0.0 4.4 25.9 41.9 56.3 88.5 99.3 99.6 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.38
Oct. (234) 0.0 3.0 11.9 18.4 26.9 64.9 92.3 99.1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.45
Nov. (262) 0.0 0.7 1.5 3.8 7.6 25.6 82.1 95.8 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.53
Dec. (237) 0.0 0.0 1.3 4.2 8.4 45.6 99.2 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.50

Copyright  2009 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
DOI: 10.1002/joc
1046 E. C. OKOGBUE ET AL.

Table V. Average monthly/seasonal clearness index (KT ) values for Ile-Ife for the period 1992–2002, compared with similar
results for Port Harcourt and Ibadan inserted for comparison.

Port Harcourta Ibadanb Ile-Ifec

Individual Average Individual Avereage Individual Average

1.1.1 Dry Season

(a) Nov, Dec, Jan 0.42, 0.45, 0.43 0.44 0.53, 0.51, 0.49 0.51 0.53, 0.50, 0.46 0.50
(b) Feb, Mar, Apr 0.43, 0.41, 0.42 0.42 0.53, 0.53, 0.52 0.53 0.51, 0.49, 0.48 0.49
1.1.2 Wet Season
(a) Aug 0.33 0.33 0.35 0.35 0.31 0.31
(b) Jul, Sep 0.35, 0.37 0.36 0.39, 0.40 0.39 0.33, 0.38 0.36
(c) Jun, Oct 0.39, 0.39 0.39 0.47, 0.47 0.47 0.44, 0.45 0.45
(d) May 0.42 0.42 0.50 0.50 0.48 0.48

a Kuye and Jagtap (1992).

b Ideriah and Suleman (1989).
c This study.

100.0 NDJ (0.50)

crop simulation and soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer
90.0
1992 - 2002 models require information on the decomposition of solar
FMA (0.49) irradiance into its various components.
80.0
Cumulative Frequency, f (%)

A (0.31)
70.0
Acknowledgements
60.0 JS (0.36)
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the
50.0
JO (0.45) International Program in the Physical Sciences (IPPS),
40.0 Sweden, for the establishment of the Obafemi Awolowo
M (0.48)
30.0 University (OAU) Ile-Ife solar radiation station. The
20.0
JS (0.39;I assistance of Professor L. Hasselgren and useful discus-
deriah &
Suleman) sions with Profs. Z. D. Adeyewa and O.O. Jegede are
10.0
JS (0.36;Kuye quite appreciated. The support of Third World Academy
& Jagtap)
0.0 of Sciences (TWAS) and Obafemi Awolowo University,
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Ile-Ife, Nigeria, are also acknowledged.
Clearness Index (KT)

Figure 15. Monthly KT cumulative distribution curves for Ile-Ife

over various periods with some of the results obtained by Ideriah Appendix
and Suleman (1989) and Kuye and Jagtap (1992) for Ibadan and
Port Harcourt respectively inserted for comparison. The number in Symbols, definitions and notations used
parenthesis in the legend indicates the average KT for the period. Kd – Daily diffuse fraction;
Equation (1) defines f.
KT – Daily clearness index;
KT – Monthly average clearness index;
due to molecular scattering of beam radiation by aerosols I0 – Hourly extraterrestrial radiation;
and clouds which keep the sky turbid and cloudy most of H0 – Daily extraterrestrial radiation;
the time. Compared to the molecular scattering of beam MT – Hourly clearness index;
radiation by aerosols during the dry season, forward scat- Md – Hourly diffuse fraction;
tering by clouds (especially altocumulus and altostratus MT – Monthly average hourly clearness index;
clouds) is more intense resulting in more diffuse com- Md – Monthly average hourly diffuse fraction;
ponent of the total solar radiation reaching the surface ISC – Monthly average hourly diffuse fraction;
during the wet season than the dry season. The impli- f – Percentage cumulative frequency of the aver-
cation is that solar devices that use radiation from sun age daily clearness index;
and sky under changing atmospheric conditions should
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Int. J. Climatol. 29: 1035–1047 (2009)
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