In recent years, electricity production from wind turbines and photovoltaic systems has grown significantly in Germany. To determine the multiple impa…In recent years, electricity production from wind turbines and photovoltaic systems has grown significantly in Germany. To determine the multiple impacts of rising variable renewable energies on an increasingly decentralized power supply, spatially and temporally resolved data on the power generation are necessary or, at least, very helpful. Because of extensive data protection regulations in Germany, especially for smaller operators of renewable power plants, such detailed data are not freely accessible. In order to fill this information gap, simulation models employing publicly available plant and weather data can be used. The numerical simulations are performed for the year 2016 and consider an ensemble of almost 1.64 million variable renewable power plants in Germany. The obtained time series achieve a high agreement with measured feed-in patterns over the investigated year. Such disaggregated power generation data are very advantageous to analyze the energy transition in Germany on a spatiotemporally resolved scale. In addition, this study also derives meaningful key figures for such an analysis and presents the generated results as detailed maps at county level. To the best of our knowledge, such highly resolved electricity data of variable renewables for the entire German region have never been shown before.more
Incoming solar radiation is the most important factor shaping climate system on Earth and the main element of the surface heat balance. The main aim o…Incoming solar radiation is the most important factor shaping climate system on Earth and the main element of the surface heat balance. The main aim of this study was to investigate the changes in the amount of global solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface in Poland during the 30-year period 1986–2015. Trends in changes and fluctuations in the size of global solar radiation over Poland were determined. The solar radiation was described based on satellite products originating from the Surface Incoming Shortwave Radiation product from the Surface Solar Radiation Data Set – Heliosat, Edition 2 (SARAH-2). The average annual sum of global solar radiation over Poland amounted to 3,902 MJ·m−2. The average annual radiation sums were the smallest in northern Poland and mountain basins, while they were the largest in southern Poland. The average annual radiation sum over Poland increased by 7.16 MJ·m−2·year−1 on average. The areas with the largest increase in the amount of solar radiation had the smallest average radiation sums during the multi-year period (Pomerania, Northern Poland), and those where the increase in radiation was moderate had the highest average radiation sums (Central and Southern Poland). This shows that the spatial differentiation of the amount of solar radiation over Poland was gradually decreasing during this period. A several-year cycle (of 12–13 years) of annual fluctuations in global solar radiation sums was observed using wavelet analysis. The cycle was visible between the early 1990s and 2005. It resulted from the medium-term cyclical component (an 11.3-year cycle which was the strongest until 2010) that occurred in summer. In the long term, the occurrence of cycles in the time series of solar radiation may result from cyclical or quasi-cyclical changes in aerosol concentration, but this requires a separate study and further in-depth research based on much longer data series.more
Svalbard is a remote and scarcely populated Arctic archipelago and is considered to be mostly influenced by long-range-transported air pollution. Howe…Svalbard is a remote and scarcely populated Arctic archipelago and is considered to be mostly influenced by long-range-transported air pollution. However, there are also local emission sources such as coal and diesel power plants, snowmobiles and ships, but their influence on the background concentrations of trace gases has not been thoroughly assessed. This study is based on data of tropospheric ozone (O-3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) collected in three main Svalbard settlements in spring 2017. In addition to these ground-based observations and radiosonde and O-3 sonde soundings, ERAS reanalysis and BrO satellite data have been applied in order to distinguish the impact of local and synoptic-scale conditions on the NOx and O-3 chemistry. The measurement campaign was divided into several sub-periods based on the prevailing large-scale weather regimes. The local wind direction at the stations depended on the large-scale conditions but was modified due to complex topography. The NOx concentration showed weak correlation for the different stations and depended strongly on the wind direction and atmospheric stability. Conversely, the O-3 concentration was highly correlated among the different measurement sites and was controlled by the long-range atmospheric transport to Svalbard. Lagrangian backward trajectories have been used to examine the origin and path of the air masses during the campaign.more
Comparison of surface albedos derived from spaceborne radiometers with different spectral bands requires, first of all, the conversion of these quanti…Comparison of surface albedos derived from spaceborne radiometers with different spectral bands requires, first of all, the conversion of these quantities into common spectral intervals. This letter proposes a spectral conversion method specifically dedicated to surface albedo derived in a large-band instrument such as the solar channel onboard the Meteosat first-generation radiometer. This new method accounts for the retrieval algorithm assumptions and radiometer spectral limitations that might have an impact on the retrieved surface albedo in such a large band. It is also shown that the proposed approach has no impact when surface albedo is derived in narrow bands and confirms the results of previously published spectral conversion methods.more
Editors note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2014 is a very low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the repor…Editors note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2014 is a very low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.more
Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2016 is a very low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the repo…Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2016 is a very low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.more
Abstract
Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2017 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution …Abstract
Editor’s note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate for 2017 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.more