Articles | Volume 11, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3131-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3131-2018
Research article
 | 
31 May 2018
Research article |  | 31 May 2018

Effects of temporal averaging on short-term irradiance variability under mixed sky conditions

Gerald M. Lohmann and Adam H. Monahan

Data sets

Oahu solar measurement grid (1-year archive): 1-second solar irradiance Sengupta, M. and Andreas, A. https://doi.org/10.5439/1052451

A 10 Hz irradiance dataset from Oldenburg, Germany Schmidt, T. and Lohmann, G. M. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1216763

Irradiance monitoring network data and wind motion vectors Lorenzo, A. T., Holmgren, W. F., and Cronin, A. D. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.29070

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Short summary
Using high-resolution surface irradiance data with original temporal resolutions between 0.01 s and 1 s from six different locations in the Northern Hemisphere, we characterize the changes in representation of temporal variability resulting from time averaging. Our results indicate that a temporal averaging time scale of around 1 s marks a transition in representing single-point irradiance variability, such that longer averages result in substantial underestimates of variability.