Abstract:

Based on the long-term data products of Global Energy and Water Exchanges-Surface Radiation Budget (GEWEX-SRB) released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/World Climate Research Program (NASA/WCRP) and the surface radiation dataset obtained from China Meteorological Administration (CMA), the surface downward solar radiation irradiance and the surface downward daily radiant exposure over the Xingjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from 1984 to 2007 were obtained to examine  the accuracy of the satellite dataand further investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of the surface solar radiation in this region. It showed that the solar radiation retrieved by the GEWEX-SRB program is about 10%-30% larger than the observational values, but the satellite results and the observations of solar radiation show similar spatiotemporal characteristics. For the spatial distribution, the surface solar radiation in Xiangjiang Uygur Autonomous Region exhibits meridional and zonal  distribution, which means that the solar radiation decreases gradually from the northwest to the southeast. In terms of the temporal variation, the solar radiation is the highest in summer, followed subsequently by spring, autumn, and winter. The meridional distribution of the solar radiation in spring turns to a zonal distribution in winter. The change range of the solar radiation is the largest in summer. The  variation of  time slope of solar radiation for many years is the largest in spring and the least in winter. The monthly variation of solar radiation shows a normal distribution.

Key words:  Solar radiation, Irradiance, Radiant exposure, GEWEX-SRB satellite, Climatic trend rate