Geographia Polonica (2007) vol. 80, iss. 2

Variability to Global Solar Radiation in Central Europe During the Period 1951–2005 (On the Basis of Data from NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project)

Joanna Uscka-Kowalkowska, Rajmund Przybylak, Zsuzsanna Vízi, Andrzej Araźny, Marek Kejna, Rafał Maszewski

Geographia Polonica (2007) vol. 80, iss. 2, pp. 59-68 | Full text

Abstract

The paper presents the variability to Global Solar Radiation (GSR) in Central Europein the period 1951–2005. The basic material comprises the data from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysisof 35 grid points. The research shows a statistically significant increase in GSR income in theentire study period in the research area. This increase, which started in the late 1980s, was alsoobserved across Europe as a whole. One of the reasons for this change might be the decrease inpollutant emissions to the atmosphere. Moreover, an upward trend in the numbers of days withGSR over the 90th percentile is to be observed in the study period, while the number of days withGSR lower than the 10th percentile shows a negative trend. In both cases, the recorded trendsare statistically significant at the 0.05 level.

Keywords: global solar radiation, Central Europe, NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data

Joanna Uscka-Kowalkowska, Department of Climatology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 9, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Rajmund Przybylak, Department of Climatology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 9, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Zsuzsanna Vízi, Department of Climatology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 9, 87-100 Toruń, Poland
Marek Kejna [marek.kejna@umk.pl]
Rafał Maszewski, Department of Climatology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Gagarina 9, 87-100 Toruń, Poland