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Meteorological measurements were performed on the non-glaciated coastal area of the Ferraz Station, the Brazilian Antarctic Station, at King George Island. Near the Station there are different topographic attributes, such as sea, glacier and hill, in addition to the intermittent presence of snow. The local atmospheric characteristics depend on wind direction, which is related in small scale to the local features and in large scale to the synoptic systems acting over the region. Westerly winds were the most frequent, with relatively lower speed and higher temperature and humidity values compared to the also frequent easterly winds, related to the coolest and driest winds. The average monthly barometric pressure and wind speed were higher during winter, associated with the presence of high-pressure systems. The radiation balance, measured for the first time in Ferraz Station, evidenced the presence of clouds throughout the year, especially during summer months, associated with the frequent synoptic systems of the region. During nighttimes (daytimes) and in winter (summer) months, the surface lost (gained) energy mainly by net longwave (shortwave) radiation. Reflected shortwave radiation was higher during spring months because of the its relatively higher albedo values combined with the already increased magnitude of the incident shortwave radiation.

The main features of the urban boundary layer in the metropolitan region of São Paulo are estimated based on rawinsondes carried out (a) every 3 hr in two 10‐day field campaigns of the MCITY BRAZIL Project during the summer and winter of 2013 and (b) regularly once per day and continuously for 4 years from 2009 to 2013. On average, the boundary layer height showed a daytime maximum of 1476 ± 149 m in summer and 1122 ± 168 m in winter campaigns. The differences are related to seasonal variations in the (a) buoyancy flux at the surface, which was 30% larger in summer (4.7 ± 0.6 MJ m−2 day−1), and the (b) static stability of the free atmosphere, which was 15% smaller in summer (3.3 ± 0.1 K km−1). The average nighttime boundary layer height, estimated from equilibrium empirical expression, indicated maximum of 126 ± 13 m in summer and 122 ± 10 m in winter campaigns. The presence of a low‐level jet was identified in 80% of the field campaign nights, with intensity varying from 2.7 to 14 m s−1 and height ranging from 95 to 962 m. The nighttime residual‐mixing layer is well estimated using the air temperature gradient method and is a good indication of the maximum vertical evolution of the previous daytime boundary layer. The monthly average maximum boundary layer height varied from a minimum of 1,061 ± 77 m in September to maximum of 1,632 ± 96 m in May.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T17:04:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-12-01 The present paper deals with atmospheric corrections factors proposed as a function of the atmospheric transmissivity in order to correct the diffuse solar irradiance measured with the Melo-Escobedo-Oliveira Shadowring Measuring Method (MEO shadowring Method). Global irradiance was measured by an Eppley-PSP pyranometer; direct normal irradiance by an Eppley-NIP pyrheliometer fitted to a ST-3 sun tracking device and diffuse irradiance by an Eppley-PSP pyranometer fitted to a MEO shadowring. The Solar Radiometric Laboratory at Sao Paulo State University provided the measurements during the years 1996–2005. Two correction models for diffuse solar irradiance were proposed: All Sky Correction Model (ASC Model) and Sky Cover Correction Model (SCC Model). The MBE and RMSE statistical indicators performed the validations. The correction models showed results in the same order of magnitude: ASC Model showed 0.81% deviation, while SCC Model showed 0.66% deviation. Therefore, the correction models proposed as a function of the sky covering (atmospheric transmissivity) were efficient to correct the isotropic diffuse irradiance, approaching the measured and reference diffuse irradiance less than 1%. Corrections show dependence on sky coverage and seasonality. The results presented that the sky cover corrections improve the MEO shadowring method, allowing the generation of a reliable global, direct and diffuse radiation database without high financial investments. College of Agricultural Sciences / FCA / UNESP Department of Bioprocess and Biotechnology College of Agricultural Sciences / FCA / UNESP Department of Rural Engineering Institute of Astronomy Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences USP College of Agricultural Sciences / FCA / UNESP Department of Bioprocess and Biotechnology College of Agricultural Sciences / FCA / UNESP Department of Rural Engineering

The observational data described here was collected between 28 February 2011 and 30 November 2015. The data analysis and interpretation were published in the article “Surface radiation balance and weather conditions on a non-glaciated coastal area in the Antarctic region” [1]. An instrumented tower located on the non-glaciated coastal area of the of the Brazilian Antarctic Comandante Ferraz Station, at King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula was used. It was collected data of air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, incident and reflected shortwave radiation, longwave radiation emitted by atmosphere and by surface, and net radiation with a sampling frequency of 0.1 Hz. The data was stored as 5-min averages and automatically transmitted to the Air-Sea Interaction Laboratory, at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. The dataset is hosted in the Mendeley repository. Keywords: Surface radiation balance observational data, Surface wind and temperature observational data, Antarctic peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T15:28:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-06-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) The city of Rio de Janeiro and others 18 cities compose the Metropolitan Area of Rio de Janeiro. The main objective of this work is to characterize observationally the diurnal and seasonal evolution of the solar radiation components in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The measurements of global and diffuse solar radiation and standard meteorological variables at the surface have been carried out regularly at the Geo-science Institute of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro since October of 2011. The microclimatic conditions show that the period 2011-2014 was warmer during most of the year and drier in summer and spring in comparison with climate normal. All solar radiation components present a well defined diurnal cycle with maximum at noon. The estimates of global and direct solar radiation indicate a great potential available for solar energy at the surface, particularly in summer. The behavior of the clearness index and diffuse solar radiation fraction is similar in summer and winter. The Angstrom formula represents properly the estimate of the monthly average daily value of global solar radiation. The sigmoid logistic function is statistically more significant in comparison with others correlation models to represent the diffuse fraction as a function clearness index. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Univ Fed Bahia, Inst Phys, Salvador, BA, Brazil Univ Fed Rio de Janeiro, Inst Geosci, Rio De Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Astron Geophys & Atmospher Sci, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Ctr Weather Forecast & Climate Studies, Brazilian Inst Space Res, Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, Brazil State Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Agron Sci, Botucatu, SP, Brazil Univ Fed Bahia, Inst Math, Salvador, BA, Brazil State Univ Sao Paulo, Sch Agron Sci, Botucatu, SP, Brazil FAPERJ: E26/111.620/2011 FAPERJ: E-26/103.407/2012 FAPESP: 2011/50178-5 CNPq: 308597/2012-5 CNPq: 309079/2013-6 CNPq: 462734/2014-5

The seasonal evolution of daily and hourly values of global and diffuse solar radiation at the surface are compared for the cities of Sao Paulo and Botucatu, both located in Southeast Brazil and representative of urban and rural areas, respectively. The comparisons are based on measurements of global and diffuse solar irradiance carried out at the surface during a six year simultaneous period in these two cities. Despite the similar latitude and altitude, the seasonal evolution of daily values indicate that Sao Paulo receives, during clear sky days, 7.8% less global irradiance in August and 5.1% less in June than Botucatu. On the other hand, Sao Paulo receives, during clear sky days, 3.6% more diffuse irradiance in August and 15.6% more in June than Botucatu. The seasonal variation of the diurnal cycle confirms these differences and indicates that they are more pronounced during the afternoon. The regional differences are related to the distance from the Atlantic Ocean, systematic penetration of the sea breeze and daytime evolution of the particulate matter in Sao Paulo. An important mechanism controlling the spatial distribution of solar radiation, on a regional scale, is the sea breeze penetration in Sao Paulo, bringing moisture and maritime aerosol that in turn further increases the solar radiation scattering due to pollution and further reduces the intensity of the direct component of solar radiation at the surface. Surprisingly, under clear sky conditions the atmospheric attenuation of solar radiation in Botucatu during winter – the biomass burning period due to the sugar cane harvest – is equivalent to that at Sao Paulo City, indicating that the contamination during sugar cane harvest in Southeast Brazil has a large impact in the solar radiation field at the surface.

The main goal of this work is to describe the diurnal and seasonal variations of the radiation balance components at the surface in the city of Sao Paulo based on observations carried out during 2004. Monthly average hourly values indicate that the amplitudes of the diurnal cycles of net radiation (Q*), downwelling and upwelling shortwave radiation (SWDW, SWUP), and longwave radiations (LWDW, LWUP) in February were, respectively, 37%, 14%, 19%, 11%, and 5% larger than they were in August. The monthly average daily values indicate a variation of 60% for Q*, with a minimum in June and a maximum in December; 45% for SWDW, with a minimum in May and a maximum in September; 50% for SWUP, with a minimum in June and a maximum in September; 13% for LWDW, with a minimum in July and a maximum in January; and 9% for LWUP, with a minimum in July and a maximum in February. It was verified that the atmospheric broadband transmissivity varied from 0.36 to 0.57; the effective albedo of the surface varied from 0.08 to 0.10; and the atmospheric effective emissivity varied from 0.79 to 0.92. The surface effective emissivity remained approximately constant and equal to 0.96. The albedo and surface effective emissivity for Sao Paulo agreed with those reported for urban areas in Europe and North America cities. This indicates that material and geometric effects on albedo and surface emissivity in Sao Paulo are similar to ones observed in typical middle latitudes cities. On the other hand, it was found that Sao Paulo city induces an urban heat island with daytime maximum intensity varying from 2.6°C in July (16:00 LT) to 5.5°C in September (15:00 LT). The analysis of the radiometric properties carried out here indicate that this daytime maximum is a primary response to the seasonal variation of daily values of net solar radiation at the surface.

The study introduces a new regression model developed to estimate the hourly values of diffuse solar radiation at the surface. The model is based on the clearness index and diffuse fraction relationship, and includes the effects of cloud (cloudiness and cloud type), traditional meteorological variables (air temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure observed at the surface) and air pollution (concentration of particulate matter observed at the surface). The new model is capable of predicting hourly values of diffuse solar radiation better than the previously developed ones ( R 2 = 0.93 and RMSE = 0.085). A simple version with a large applicability is proposed that takes into consideration cloud effects only (cloudiness and cloud height) and shows a R 2 = 0.92.

This work describes the seasonal and diurnal variations of downward longwave atmospheric irradiance (LW) at the surface in São Paulo, Brazil, using 5-min-averaged values of LW, air temperature, relative humidity, and solar radiation observed continuously and simultaneously from 1997 to 2006 on a micrometeorological platform, located at the top of a 4-story building. An objective procedure, including 2-step filtering and dome emission effect correction, was used to evaluate the quality of the 9-yr-long LW dataset. The comparison between LW values observed and yielded by the Surface Radiation Budget project shows spatial and temporal agreement, indicating that monthly and annual average values of LW observed in one point of São Paulo can be used as representative of the entire metropolitan region of São Paulo. The maximum monthly averaged value of the LW is observed during summer (389 ± 14 W m−2; January), and the minimum is observed during winter (332 ± 12 W m−2; July). The effective emissivity follows the LW and shows a maximum in summer (0.907 ± 0.032; January) and a minimum in winter (0.818 ± 0.029; June). The mean cloud effect, identified objectively by comparing the monthly averaged values of the LW during clear-sky days and all-sky conditions, intensified the monthly average LW by about 32.0 ± 3.5 W m−2 and the atmospheric effective emissivity by about 0.088 ± 0.024. In August, the driest month of the year in São Paulo, the diurnal evolution of the LW shows a minimum (325 ± 11 W m−2) at 0900 LT and a maximum (345 ± 12 W m−2) at 1800 LT, which lags behind (by 4 h) the maximum diurnal variation of the screen temperature. The diurnal evolution of effective emissivity shows a minimum (0.781 ± 0.027) during daytime and a maximum (0.842 ± 0.030) during nighttime. The diurnal evolution of all-sky condition and clear-sky day differences in the effective emissivity remain relatively constant (7% ± 1%), indicating that clouds do not change the emissivity diurnal pattern. The relationship between effective emissivity and screen air temperature and between effective emissivity and water vapor is complex. During the night, when the planetary boundary layer is shallower, the effective emissivity can be estimated by screen parameters. During the day, the relationship between effective emissivity and screen parameters varies from place to place and depends on the planetary boundary layer process. Because the empirical expressions do not contain enough information about the diurnal variation of the vertical stratification of air temperature and moisture in São Paulo, they are likely to fail in reproducing the diurnal variation of the surface emissivity. The most accurate way to estimate the LW for clear-sky conditions in São Paulo is to use an expression derived from a purely empirical approach.