SURVEY OF THE INCIDENT SOLAR-RADIATION IN BRAZIL BY USE OF METEOSAT SATELLITE DATA

Meosat-2 satellite data in the visible band were used to calculate mon thly averages from daily mean incident solar radiation over Brazil, us ing the IGMK physical model for the period 1985-1986. Satellite estima tes are compared with ground data from 22 national stations. The globa l root mean square error between model and ground results for all data points was 13%, and the mean bias error was 1.23 MJ m(-2). About 68% of the individual errors were below 10% and clustered around 8%. Globa l radiation estimated by the model ranged from 9.0 to 27 MJ m(-2) with the diffuse to global ratio falling into the 0.2-0.5 interval. Enhanc ed inverted zonal trends were found for both satellite predictions and the ground station results. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.