National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) Station Data Output for 1991 to 2010

Description

The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) was produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The NSRDB update is a collection of hourly values of the three most common measurements of solar radiation (i.e., global horizontal, direct normal, and diffuse horizontal) over a period of time adequate to establish means and extremes and at a sufficient number or locations to represent regional solar radiation climates. Nearly all of the solar data in the NSRDB are modeled, and only 40 sites have measured solar data - none of them with a complete period of record. Because of the data-filling methods used to accomplish the goal of serial completeness, NSRDB meteorological data are not suitable for climatological work. The meteorological fields in the NSRDB should be used only as ancillary data for solar deployment and sizing applications. Filled/interpolated meteorological data should not be used for climatic applications. (All such data are flagged.) The serially complete hourly data provided in the NSRDB update are provided in two output formats: 1) ground-based solar and meteorological dataset, and 2) 10 km gridded output produced by the SUNY model. The 1991-2010 NSRDB is an update of the 1991-2005 NSRDB released in 2006 and archived at NCDC. The updated NSRDB dataset an hourly ground-based data set of solar and meteorological fields for 1454 stations. The primary provider for ground-based data is NCDC, which are stored as site-year files in comma-separated value (CSV) American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. Station identification numbers use the six-digit United States Air Force (USAF) station ID numbering scheme. The measured solar radiation data came from multiple sources, including: Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program, Department of Energy Florida Solar Energy Center, State of Florida Integrated Surface Irradiance Study and Surface Radiation Budget Measurement Networks, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Air Resources Laboratory and Earth System Research Laboratory Global Monitoring Division Measurement and Instrumentation Data Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory Network University of Texas Solar Energy Laboratory. All meteorological data were provided by the National Climatic Data Center from its Integrated Surface Hourly Database (ISD) product. The NSRDB Statistics Files hold summary statistics for all Class I and Class II stations. The Daily Statistics provide monthly and annual averages of solar radiation and several meteorological parameters for both annual and a 20 year roll-up. The Hourly Statistics provide average diurnal profiles by hour for each station year for each solar parameter. The Persistence Statistics provide multiple levels of persistence for up to 30 days for each station for each solar parameter. These Summary Statistics files are documented in the NSRDB User's Manual.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 NCEI home page with information, data access and contact information. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov
0 The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords
0 Compressed solar-only station data files by station ID and summary statistics available for download via HTTP. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/nsrdb-solar/
0 Landing page for the dataset. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00843/html
0 Information and resources for the NSRDB Station Data Output. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/land-based-station-data/land-based-datasets/solar-radiation
0 The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords
0 The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords
33 User document describing the data content and format. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/nsrdb-solar/documentation-2010/NSRDB_UserManual_r20120906.pdf
0 The NSRDB 1991-2010 Update was produced by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with several partners including the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. This is an update of the original 1961-1990 NSRDB and the 1991-2005 NSRDB. It provides estimates of solar radiation over a period of time and space adequate to establish means and extremes and at a sufficient number or locations to represent regional solar radiation climates. Nearly all solar data in the original and updated versions are modeled. Whereas the original version provided serially complete data for 239 stations, the update provides data for 1454. The update also contains modified solar models and a new gridded data product.> https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/metadata/geoportal/rest/metadata/item/gov.noaa.ncdc:C00843/html
0 The information provided on this page seeks to define how the GCMD Keywords are structured, used and accessed. It also provides information on how users can participate in the further development of the keywords. https://earthdata.nasa.gov/about/gcmd/global-change-master-directory-gcmd-keywords

Tags

  • cloud ceiling
  • aerosol optical depth/thickness
  • vertical location
  • dew point
  • terrestrial hydrosphere
  • cloud properties
  • precipitation
  • united states of america
  • land surface
  • visible wavelengths
  • national climatic data center
  • atmospheric temperature
  • nesdis
  • aerosols
  • surface winds
  • snow
  • cloud frequency
  • atmospheric water vapor
  • atmosphere
  • continent
  • air quality
  • noaa
  • air temperature
  • total precipitable water
  • snow depth
  • north america
  • u.s. department of commerce
  • visibility
  • earth science
  • surface pressure
  • doc/noaa/nesdis/ncei
  • atmospheric pressure measurements
  • snow/ice
  • atmospheric radiation
  • solid precipitation
  • atmospheric pressure
  • doc/noaa/nesdis/ncdc
  • clouds
  • atmospheric winds
  • spectral/engineering
  • surface temperature
  • water vapor indicators
  • national centers for environmental information

Topics

  • Climate

Categories

  • Arctic
  • Energy Infrastructure
  • Energy Conversion
  • Energy Resources
  • Energy Supply
  • Arctic Weather and Extreme Events
  • Arctic Ocean, Sea Ice and Coasts
  • Melting Glaciers, Snow and Ice