Mechanisms of surface solar irradiance variability under broken clouds

Mol, Wouter; van Heerwaarden, Chiel

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4419-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4419-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4419-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 8

Research article

|

23 Apr 2025

Research article |

| 23 Apr 2025

Mechanisms of surface solar irradiance variability under broken clouds

Wouter Mol and Chiel van Heerwaarden

Data sets

Supplementary data for "Mechanism of surface solar irradiance variability under broken cloud cover" Wouter Mol and Chiel van Heerwaarden https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14652241

High resolution solar irradiance variability climatology dataset part 1: direct, diffuse, and global irradiance W. H. Knap and W. B. Mol https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7093164

Radiometer grid at Falkenberg and surroundings, downwelling shortwave radiation, FESSTVaL campaign W. Mol et al. https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.12548

High resolution solar irradiance variability climatology dataset part 2: classifications, supplementary data, and statistics W. B. Mol et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7092058

Short summary

Sunlight varies often and quickly under broken cloud cover, and every cloud field creates a unique pattern of sunlight on the surface below. These variations affect many processes in the Earth system, from photosynthesis and chemistry to cloud formation itself. The exact way in which cloud particles interact with sunlight is complex and expensive to calculate. We demonstrate a simplified framework which explains how sunlight changes for potentially any cloud field.