Distributed modeling of surface solar radiation based on aerosol optical depth and sunshine duration in China

Surface solar radiation, as a major component of energy balance, is an important driving condition for nutrient and energy cycle in the Earth system. The spatial distribution of total solar radiation at 10 kmx10 km resolution in China was simulated with Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data from remote sensing and observing sunshine hours data from ground meteorological stations based on Geographic Information System (GIS). The results showed that the solar radiation was significantly different in the country, and affected by both sunshine hours and AOD. Sunshine hours are higher in the Northwest than that in the Northeast, but solar radiation is lower because of the higher AOD, especially in autumn and winter. It was suggested that the calculation accuracy of solar radiation was limited if just based on sunshine hours, and AOD can be considered as the influencing factor which would help to improve the simulation accuracy of the total solar radiation and realize the solar radiation distributed simulation.