Ticker for October 23, 2002

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
October 23, 2002   October 23, 2002   October 23, 2002   October 23, 2002


The Numbers Are In: Panhandle Summers are the Brightest

The Ticker staff tried to pick an appropriately gloomy day to release
a little sunshine into the world.  The following link presents a
month-by-month look at solar radiation, as observed by the Oklahoma
Mesonet:

https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20021023/srad.pct.html

The maps indicate the fraction of the incident solar radation that
actually makes it to the surface as solar radiation.  This fraction
comes from two numbers (a pretty common trait among the fraction
population):

1. The numerator comes from Mesonet observations of solar radiation,
averaged by month, during 1994-2001.

2. The denominator is a calculated value, based on latitude, time of
year, and the assumption that no atmosphere exists on Earth.

Put these two numbers together, and you get a quotient that represents
the impact of the atmosphere and all that comes with it!  These
percentages vary from near 40% in the southeast during winter to
near 70% in the panhandle during summer.

The spatial signal: values increase from east to west.
The temporal signal: summer values are greater than winter values
at a given point.

The numbers can kinda-sorta be considered as an indirect measure of
cloudiness, in a relatively-speaking sort of way.  However, they
certainly are not indicators of cloudiness alone.  Several factors
can influence the measurments, including haziness, fog, smoke,
elevation (more/less optical depth to the atmosphere), angle of
the horizon (flat vs. hilly), and, of course, cloudiness.

One other thing: notice that the maximum solar quotient occurs in
the panhandle during the summer months.  That's also the panhandle's
"rainy" season!  This is quite revealing about the nature of summer
precipitation in that region: it tends to come in large doses
separated by lots of sunshine in the interim (this is supported
in the region's rainfall data, too).

To those of you who've read this far (the tough crowd): please
consider this paragraph an open solicitation of your scientific
thoughts on this quotient and these maps.