Environmental Modelling

(ENGO 583/ENEN 635)

Lab 2: Modelling of the solar radiation/energy

Deadline: 04 March 2020 by 11:00 am

Dept. of Geomatics Engineering; and Centre for Environmental Engineering Research and
Education
Schulich School of Engineering
University of Calgary

Lab 2:
Marking Scheme

Q. 1: 2.5

Q. 2: 1.0

Q. 3: 0.5
Q. 4: 0.5
Q. 5: 1.0
Q. 6: 0.5

Total Marks: 6

Dr. Quazi K. Hassan, U of Calgary 1

 Exercise (1)

1. Consider, you have to calculate daily amount of: (i) extra-terrestrial solar radiation, and (ii)
incident/incoming solar radiation at the Earth’s surface, over two year time period. In this
case, you suppose to collect data at the station/location, which has been assigned to you.
Show the following:
(a) Schematic diagram of the entire modeling exercise; and
(b) Results as a function of day of year in one graph. (2.5)

Exercise (2)
Calculation of solar radiation at the top of atmosphere

1
Rdaily -ex = E0 d r [ws sin(f ) sin(d ) + cos(f ) cos(d ) sin(ws )]
p

• Rdaily-ex is the daily average extra-terrestrial incident radiation [W.m-2];

• E0 is the solar constant @ 1353 W.m-2;

• dr is the inverse relative distance between earth-sun;

• ws is the sunset hour angle [radians];

• f is the latitude [radians]; and

• d is the solar declination angle [radians].

Dr. Quazi K. Hassan, U of Calgary 2

 Exercise (3)
Calculation of solar radiation at the top of atmosphere

æ 2p ö æ 2p ö
d r = 1 + 0.033 cosç DOY ÷ d = 0.409 sin ç DOY - 1.39 ÷
è 365 ø è 365 ø

ws = arccos[- tan(f ) tan(d )]

• dr is the inverse relative distance between earth-sun;

• d is the solar declination angle [radians];

• ws is the sunset hour angle [radians];

• f is the latitude [radians]; and

•
• DOY is the number of the day in the year between 1 (1 January) and 365 or 366 (31 December)

Exercise (4)
Calculation of incoming/incident solar radiation at the earth surface

• Rdaily is the modelled daily average incident/incoming radiation [W.m-2];

• Kt is the calibration coefficient (=0.16) [dimensionless];

• Rdaily-ex is the daily average extra-terrestrial incident radiation [W.m-2];

• Tmax and Tmin are the daily maximum and minimum air temperature at 2m [oC]

• This particular model is known as Hargreaves-Samani Model.

o G.H. Hargreaves, and Z. A. Samani 1982. Estimating potential evaporation. J. Irrig. And Drain Energy,
ASCE, 108 (IR3); 223-230.
o G.H. Hargreaves And Z.A. Samani, 1985. Reference crop evapotranspiration from temperature.
Transaction of ASAE 1(2); 96-99.

Dr. Quazi K. Hassan, U of Calgary 3

 Exercise (5)

2. Validate your modelled incident solar radiation with measured values obtained from
Alberta Climate Information Service (ACIS) available from:
http://agriculture.alberta.ca/acis/alberta-weather-data-viewer.jsp. You need to determine
the coefficient of determination (r2) and root mean square error (RMSE). (1)
3. How much energy is intercepted (received) by the Sun from the Earth, where the radius of
the Earth » 6.4 x 106 m; the distance between Earth and Sun » 1.4 x 1011 m; and the average
Earth’s surface temperature » 287 K (~13 oC). (0.5)
4. You would like to install solar panel on top of your Calgary home. Which aspect (i.e., the
direction of slope) would be your ideal choice for harvesting the maximum solar radiation?
Justify your choice. (0.5)
5. Consider that you plan to install 2 x 2 m2 photovoltaic panel with an efficiency of 12%.
Then, calculate the daily dynamics of harvested solar energy and plot as a function of day
of year. (1)
6. Is there any time lag between incident solar radiation and temperature (as it is primarily
derived by solar radiation) at both diurnal and annual time-scale? If yes, what could be the
possible reasons? (0.5)

Dr. Quazi K. Hassan, U of Calgary 4