NEW EMPIRICAL-MODELS FOR GLOBAL SOLAR-RADIATION OVER BAHRAIN

New empirical models have been developed in this study to facilitate t he estimation of global solar radiation for Bahrain from commonly meas ured meteorological parameters. The objective is to minimize the error s and the number of parameters incorporated in the models over the exi sting ones. The results obtained are very encouraging. When the estima ted values were;compared with the measured ones, the models provided v ery high correlation factors of over 0.99 and absolute maximum errors of only 1.9-7.9%. The best models have been established when the month ly mean daily data were treated at intervals, namely January-June and July-December. These models are dependent on one to three measured inp uts, such as temperature, bright sunshine duration, relative humidity and extraterrestrial solar radiation. The present models can, thus, be recommended for the State of Bahrain. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.