Solar radiation climate in Africa

Lamissa Diabate, Philippe Blanc, Lucien Wald

To cite this version:

Lamissa Diabate, Philippe Blanc, Lucien Wald. Solar radiation climate in Africa. Solar Energy,
Elsevier, 2004, 76, pp.733-744.

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 Diabaté L., Blanc Ph., Wald L., Solar radiation climate in Africa. Solar Energy, 76, 733-744, 2004.

SOLAR RADIATION CLIMATE IN AFRICA

Diabaté L. (1), Blanc Ph. (2), Wald L. (3)*

(1) UFAE / GCMI, BP E4018, 410, avenue Van Vollenhoven, Bamako, Mali

(2) Alcatel Space, BP 99, Cannes, France

(3)* Corresponding author. Groupe Télédétection & Modélisation, Ecole des Mines de Paris, BP 207, 06904

Sophia Antipolis cedex, France. Tel.: +33 (0) 4.93.95.74.49 - Fax: +33 (0) 4.93.95.75.35. E-mail:

[email protected]

ABSTRACT

This work is a first attempt to propose a map of the solar radiation climate in Africa. Such a map is very useful

for preliminary assessment and modeling of solar energy systems. Following the approach adopted for Europe, a

data set of monthly means of the daily clearness index has been assembled for 62 sites. A cluster analysis was

applied to create 20 classes that were reported on a map of Africa. These classes were geographically extended,

thus creating a solar radiation climate map, comprising 20 climates. Known features and other atlases, global or

local, were used in this mapping. This map and its companion tables permit to perform elementary energy

calculations. Further improvements are discussed.

Keywords: clearness index, atmosphere optics, clustering, interpolation, map, solar energy systems

Nomenclature:

(KTd)m: monthly mean daily clearness index

(Gd)m: monthly mean daily global irradiation (J/m²)

(G0d)m: monthly mean daily extraterrestrial global irradiation (J/m²)

ΦP, ΦX: latitude of a point P, of a point X (decimal degrees)

dgeo: geodetic distance (km)

deff: effective distance (km)

fNS: a unitless parameter for interpolation taking into account the latitudinal asymmetry of the climate phenomena

δh: difference in elevation between the point P and another site X (km)

foro: a unitless parameter for interpolation taking into account the difference in elevation (=500)

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 Solar radiation climate in Africa

1. Introduction

Knowing the solar climate in Africa is a challenge. Only few measuring sites are available with long-term time-

series of accurate measurements. For such a site, the time structure may be derived that characterizes the solar

climate. The monthly mean of the daily clearness index (KTd)m is an appropriate variable in that respect. It is

defined by the ratio of the monthly mean daily global irradiation (Gd)m and the monthly mean daily

extraterrestrial irradiation (G0d)m, following the notations of the European solar radiation atlas (ESRA 2000):

(KTd)m = (Gd)m / (G0d)m

A typical value of (KTd)m for Paris, France, is 0.4 (ESRA 2000). That means that 40 % of the extraterrestrial

irradiation reaches the ground.

(KTd)m is a dimensionless quantity. Its use helps suppress variations due monthly mean to variations in

extraterrestrial irradiation, which are also strongly dependent on latitude. This index brings out with greater

clarity global radiation variations due to climate impacts, i.e. site altitude, site cloudiness and atmospheric

turbidity.

The difficulty in solar climate lies in the comprehension of the spatial dimension. Due to the scarcity of the

network, the boundaries of a climatic area are difficult to draw. However, zoning helps in a better understanding

of the distribution of the clearness index in space. It also guides the selection of appropriate measuring stations

for a given geographical location. Incidentally, it also helps with the Ångström coefficients by defining the

geographical limits of the validity of a given set of coefficients.

Such a zoning effort was recently performed for Europe and has been published under the form of maps (ESRA

2000). The present paper reports on a similar effort made for Africa, though the resources spent and the number

of stations used are limitations to the analogy.

Solar radiation climatic zoning is of large importance for preliminary assessment and modeling of systems using

solar radiation, whether they are natural systems, e.g., vegetation and fauna (Thompson, Perry 1997), or energy

conversion artificial system, e.g., photovoltaics. Some atlases of solar irradiation are available for Africa (Ba et

al. 2001; Bahraoui-Buret et al. 1983; Raschke et al. 1991). They are either limited to a country or are made of

isolines or colored maps at large scale (1 degree or so). Values are difficult to handle and these atlases are not

offering such a zoning for the whole Africa. The maps provided by the World Meteorological Organization

(WMO 1981) are covering the whole world but exhibit very limited spatial details. That is why an effort was

made to produce a map of solar radiation climate in Africa, benefiting from these atlases and other available

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 Solar radiation climate in Africa

information. As for the ESRA and Dogniaux, Lemoine (1983), the present study uses the monthly mean of the

daily clearness index (KTd)m as a basic quantity to define the zoning.

2. Data

The WMO published a CD-ROM containing global climate normals (CLINO) for the period 1961-1990 (WMO

1998). This CLINO database would have been a good source of data; unfortunately, it does not contain solar

irradiation values for Africa. The possibility to use sunshine duration observations was examined. There are

approximately 400 stations measuring the sunshine duration in the CLINO. However, there were two obstacles.

Firstly, the spatial distribution is very heterogeneous. There is no information for large portions of Africa (Fig.

1). Secondly, the conversion of sunshine duration into global irradiation and clearness index through the

Ångström relationship is not obvious and spatially dependent. Coincident time-series of sunshine duration and

clearness index are necessary to derive such a relationship, whose coefficients are valid only locally.

Time-series were available at the Web site of the World Radiation Data Center (WRDC). Thirty-six stations:

seventeen sites in Morocco, nine in Egypt, two in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and one for Algeria,

Ghana, Tunisia and Western Sahara, were found, having time-series of daily sums of global radiation (daily

irradiation) spanning several years (Table 1). At the time of data collection, it was only possible to display the

data on the computer screen when accessing Web site of the WRDC with no possibility of downloading data; the

data were then manually digitized at the UFAE with possible typing errors. The data span the period 1994-1998,

that is 5 years, except for Mersa Matruh, Egypt, where the period is 1995-1998 (4 years) and Tamanrasset,

Algeria, with a period 1995-1999 (5 years). The quality of these measurements was controlled by the means of

the Web tool described by Geiger et al. (2003). It performs a likelihood control of the data and checks the

plausibility of the measurements. Once, the questionable data removed, monthly means of daily irradiation were

computed by averaging the data for a same month and all years. The results are a series of twelve values (one per

month) for each site.

The retained stations do not cover the whole Africa. Information was added in uncovered areas by using existing

atlases. The solar radiation atlas of Africa by Raschke et al. (1991) was established by means of Meteosat data. It

covers the period 1985-1986 and offers a relative accuracy of 15 - 20% in monthly means of daily irradiation.

This atlas exists only in paper format. The process of reading colored maps and converting them into figures is

inaccurate and very tedious. Nevertheless, it was the only means known to the authors for getting information in

large uncovered areas. Eighteen sites were added in that way, especially between tropics, where data are scarce.

3
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

When possible, the values were checked for consistency with the maps shown in Ba et al. (2001) for January,

April, July and October. In Table 1, the names of these sites comprise the word "Sunsat".

For Northern Africa, we used the ESRA (2000). This atlas covers the period 1981-1990. Digital values of

monthly means of daily irradiation can be read on the screen for any site with a relative accuracy of 5-10 %

(Beyer et al. 1997). Eight sites were added in that way for areas North of the parallel 25° N. Their names

comprise the word "ESRA".

We thus obtain a total of 62 sites. The periods under concern are different. Beyer et al. (1997) or Ba et al. (2001)

report that inter-annual changes are of order of up to 10 % in relative value. The effect of using different periods

is reduced by averaging over several years but not eliminated. This effect is smaller than the accuracy of the

assessment mentioned by the ESRA or Raschke et al. The series of monthly means of daily irradiation were then

converted into clearness index (KTd)m by dividing by the monthly mean of the daily sum of the extraterrestrial

irradiance (G0d)m. (KTd)m is given in Table 2 for each month and each site.

3. Clustering and processing procedures

As for the ESRA, the method selected for the creation of the climatic zones is a cluster analysis. It arranges the

62 stations in classes or clusters. The procedure aims at forming classes such that items of a given class are as

similar as possible, while they are as different as possible from items of other classes. Because it makes no sense

to perform a cluster analysis with correlated variables, a correlation matrix was calculated on the time-series of

(KTd)m. The results showed that the variables were not correlated with each other. The similarity between two

stations can be computed by the means of the Euclidean distance computed on the two vectors of (KTd)m. This

distance is the sum over the twelve months of the square of the differences between each pair of (KTd)m. The more

similar the (KTd)m, the smaller the difference. This distance is computed for each possible pair of stations.

Then, a hierarchical cluster tree is created by applying the algorithm of Ward (1963). The linkage between two

objects is based upon their proximity in the space of (KTd)m. The closest stations are first aggregated and produce a

new object (or cluster) whose properties, i.e. time-series of (KTd)m, are an average of the individual (KTd)m for each

month. The distances between this cluster and all other stations are re-computed. Using also the set of distances

computed before, the process is iterated to construct a hierarchical cluster tree, until there is a unique cluster. An

important parameter is the overall heterogeneity within the clusters as a function of the number of clusters. This

function is a weighted sum of the distances within a cluster and is similar to an intra-cluster variance (Fig. 2). It

reaches its minimum when no merging is made, that is when the number of clusters (or classes) is equal to the

4
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

number of stations. It is maximum when the number of cluster is 1. It increases slowly as the merging proceeds, and

the number of clusters decreases. If a sharp increase at a given number of clusters is observed, it indicates the

forming of a heterogeneous cluster from two homogeneous clusters and indicates the end of the process of merging.

This critical number is the final number of clusters. In this case, no sharp increase is found. We have to find a trade-

off for having a number of classes large enough to describe the climate and aggregated enough to represent a step

forward the use of individual stations. One may note in Fig. 2 that there is no variation of the intra-cluster variance

for a number of classes between 20 and 24. That means that several classes are very similar and that there is no loss

of information by aggregating them. Hence, it seems that a number of 20 clusters is appropriate to describe the time-

series of (KTd)m. Table 3 lists the stations contained in each cluster.

The cluster to which a station belongs is reported on a map of Africa for the geographical coordinates of the

station. An initial map of the solar radiation climate is created by geographically extending these classes by

spatial interpolation by the means of the nearest-neighbor technique. The distance used here is that described by

Lefèvre et al. (2002a) who found an increase in accuracy by adding latitudinal and orographic effects to the

geodetic distance. Assuming that the cluster value should be assessed at a given geographical point P, this

effective distance deff is as follows:

deff2 = fNS2 (dgeo2 + foro2 δh2)

with fNS = 1 + 0.3 ΦP -ΦX [1+ (sinΦP + sinΦX) / 2], where dgeo is the geodetic distance in km, latitudes ΦP and

ΦX are expressed in degrees, counted positive from the equatorial plane northwards and negative southwards, δh

is the difference in elevation between the point P and each of the stations Xi (expressed in km) and foro is equal to

500. The closest station to the point P gives the cluster value to be assigned to P. This interpolation procedure

does not take into account natural limits that may have an influence on the radiation climate. For example, (KTd)m

is a function of the elevation and the influence of a station located in an area of low elevation should be limited to

this range of altitude. Accordingly, the initial map was manually corrected with the help of geographical atlases of

Africa. Several publications (e.g., Anonymous 1994; Atlas of hydrometeorological data 1991; Bahraoui-Buret et al.

1983; Diabaté 1989; ESRA 2000; Raschke et al. 1991; WMO 1981) that indicate known radiation features were

also considered.

4. Results and discussions

The final map is displayed in Fig. 3. The 20 classes (clusters) are reported by means of Roman numbers: I, II etc.

Figures 4 to 7 display the monthly values of (KTd)m for each class.

5
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

There is a marked latitudinal effect that is consistent with what is known of the climate of Africa and also of the

distribution of (KTd)m. One may see links between the known climates and the solar radiation climates shown in

this figure. According to Trewartha (1954), the following rough climatic categories can be drawn for Africa (their

codes are given in parenthesis):

• Rainy climate with no winter (A, Af, Am, Aw) – this tropical humid climate is present in tropical

areas, e.g., Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania and Zaire, and marked by rainy climate with no winter. The

coolest month is above 18° C. It may be constantly moist: the rainfall of the driest month is at least 60

mm (Af, case of Zaire). A short dry season may occur that is compensated by heavy rain during the rest

of the year (Am, Sierra Leone). The dry season may occur in winter (Aw, Guinea, Senegal, Tanzania).

• Dry climate (BS, BW, BSh, BWh, BShs, BShw) – The climate is dry and semi-arid (BS) or arid (BW,

desert). It is warmer dry: all months are above 0° C (BSh, BWh). The Kalahari Desert is an example of

the semi-arid warmer dry climate (BSh), while Sudan and the Sahara are warmer dry deserts (BWh).

There may be a dry season in winter (BShw, e.g. South-Sudan or South-Mauritania) or in summer

(BShs, e.g., Tunisia).

• Rainy climate with mild winters (C, Cb, Csa, Csb) – This climate is present in the Mediterranean

basin, the Western coast of Morocco, the high plateaus of Ethiopia and South Africa. It is characterized

by limited amplitude of the extreme temperatures: the coolest month is above 0° C but below 18° C and

the warmest month is above 10° C. In the Mediterranean area, the warmest month is above 22° C and

the summer is dry (Csa). In Ethiopia or South Africa, the warmest month is below 22° C (Cb). The

Southern extreme of Africa experiences dry season in summer (Csb).

Mapping of climates takes into account temperature and humidity. Our mapping does not, and this explains that

there are several discrepancies between the weather climates and the solar radiation climates.

The Class I is found in the mountainous area Haut Atlas, in Morocco, and in the Southeast coast in the Limpopo

plain. It is characterized by (KTd)m almost constant during the year, ranging between 0.53 and 0.59, with a

maximum in June-August (Fig. 4). In both areas, this period corresponds to the driest months. These areas have

different weather climates: one is a rainy climate with mild winters (Csa for Morocco) and the other is a rainy

climate with no winter (Aw, Limpopo plain). This mountainous area in Morocco exhibits lower (KTd)m than in

other parts of Morocco.

6
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

The Class II is located in the Southeast of Africa and is connected to a tropical humid climate (Aw) at elevations

larger than 1000 m: Malawi and Madagascar. As for the previous class, (KTd)m is close to 0.55 during most of the

year (Fig. 4), except in August-September when it reaches its maximum (0.63). These months are the driest ones.

The Class III is observed in the high plateaus of Ethiopia, affected by rainy climate with mild winters (Cb).

Elevations are larger than 1000 m. In summer, from November to March, (KTd)m is larger than or close to 0.7

with a peak to 0.72 in January (Fig. 4). The sky is usually very clear. For the rest of the year, (KTd)m is larger than

0.60 and reaches a minimum in April (0.58).

The Class IV is found on the high Sahara plateaus: Ahaggar, Air, Tibesti, of elevation larger than 1000 m. The

climate is dry and semi-arid (BShw). The sky is usually very clear. In boreal winter, from November to March,

(KTd)m is larger than 0.70 and reaches a maximum of 0.74 in February, with the exception of December, where

dust winds occur and decrease (KTd)m down to 0.66 (Fig. 4). For the remaining of the year, (KTd)m is always

greater than 0.60, except for June (0.55) because of dust winds.

The Class V comprises two industrialized areas in semi-arid warmer dry climate with a boreal summer dry season

(BShs): one in Morocco (city of Safi) and the other around the city of Cairo. Cairo is one of the largest cities in

Africa (approximately 13 millions of inhabitants); it is the seat of industries and the traffic of vehicles is large.

Despite pollution, evidenced by a large Linke turbidity factor between 4 and 6 (Diabaté et al. 2003), the sky is

very often clear and (KTd)m is large. It describes a perfect seasonal change with a minimum in December (0.52)

and a maximum in June (0.63, Fig. 4).

The Class VI is found in the high plateaus of Southeastern Africa, exhibiting rainy climate with mild winters

(Cb). Elevations are greater than 1000 m. It is also found along the Eastern Mediterranean coast and in the

Western Sahel. (KTd)m is always greater than 0.5 (Fig. 5). It is minimum in December and increases in a gentle

way to peak at 0.65 in June. This behavior is very close to that observed for Sicily in the ESRA.

The Class VII is limited to the arid Sinai Peninsula. The sky is very clear in boreal summer: (KTd)m is larger than

0.65 (Fig. 5). The lowest values of 0.55 are attained in November and December.

The Class VIII is found along the Western Mediterranean coast and in the Zaire basin. Both exhibit rainy climate

and differ in winter, with mild winter along the Mediterranean coast (Csa) and no winter for Zaire (Af). (KTd)m is

almost constant (0.50) from November to April and then peaks to 0.60 in June and July (Fig. 5). One may note

that (KTd)m is much lower for this class than for the Class VI though both are found along the Mediterranean

coast.

7
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

The Class IX describes the major part of Morocco that is subjected to the influences of the Atlantic Ocean and

extends towards the East in the mountain Atlas, except for the Haut Atlas (Class I). This is a rainy climate with

mild winters (Csa). (KTd)m exhibits a bell-shaped form (Fig. 5). The maximum is 0.61 from June to August and

the minimum is 0.49 in November.

The Class X is located in the Zaire low, where the climate is constantly moist (Af). (KTd)m is close to 0.5, except

during the dry season December-February where it closes to 0.6 (Fig. 5).

The Class XI is found in the Horn of Africa, along the ocean, exhibiting a dry climate (BWh), and in the humid

tropical zone in Western Africa (Aw). (KTd)m is maximum in January (0.64, Fig. 6), decreases down to 0.47 in

July and increases again.

The Class XII comprises desert areas in Sahara, Libya and Egypt with dry climate (BWh). The variations of

(KTd)m are small (Fig. 6): it ranges between 0.58 in boreal winter and 0.67 in summer.

The Class XIII is a portion of the Western Sahara submitted to the influences of the Atlantic Ocean. The dry

climate exhibits a dry season in summer (BShs). Thus, (KTd)m is the lowest in boreal winter though being larger

than 0.55 (Fig. 6). It peaks in July – August with very large values of 0.70.

The Class XIV is located in the Northern Sahara with a dry desert climate (BWh). There is no season and (KTd)m

is almost constant, ranging between 0.65 and 0.69 (Fig. 6).

The Class XV is found in many places: mountainous area in South Morocco (BShs), Eastern Sahara (BWh),

coastal plains of Zambezi and Madagascar (Aw). (KTd)m exhibits little variation (Fig. 6): from 0.58 to 0.63 with

highest values from March to June.

The Class XVI is made of the Kalahari and Namib deserts with a semi-arid warmer dry climate (BSh). Along the

coast, fog may occur. Low values (0.60) are observed in April to June, then it rises up to 0.67 in September, drops

down to 0.6 in October and rises again up to 0.65 in December, then gently decreases down to 0.6 in April (Fig. 7).

The Class XVII is found in Western Sahara (BWh) and in the Southern part of the Luanda plateau with elevation

greater than 1000 m (Aw). There is a marked seasonal variation in (KTd)m (Fig. 7). A minimum of 0.46 is

observed in December – January. The maximum of 0.68 is attained from June to September.

The Class XVIII is the Southeastern part of the Sahel. The climate is dry and semi-arid with a dry season in

winter (BShw). This is reflected by (KTd)m (Fig. 7). The values are very large as a whole. A maximum of 0.69 is

found in December – January and a minimum of 0.52 in July. Owing to one reviewer, we found a series of monthly

means of daily irradiation for fourteen stations in Sudan in Khogali (1983). After conversion into (KTd)m, by

reporting them onto the map, we found that twelve of them are in full agreement with the class (values and shape)

8
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

to which they belong (9 sites in Class 18, 1 in Class 11, 1 in Class 14 and 1 in Class 15). While it should be in Class

18, one belongs to Class 16 that is not present in this part of the map, and one does not belong to any class. Though

of limited extension, these results mainly support our zoning.

The Class XIX is the Northern part of the Luanda plateau with elevation greater than 1000 m. (KTd)m is the lowest

in February (0.33) then rises up to 0.58 from June to August (Fig. 7).

The Class XX is located in the equatorial zone, North of the Gulf of Guinea. The climate is constantly moist with a

dry season during the boreal winter (Aw). (KTd)m is almost constant from November to May at approximately 0.45

(Fig. 7). Then it decreases to 0.32 in August and then increases again.

5. Conclusion

This work provides a first estimate of the solar radiation climate in Africa. Based on an approach adopted for

Europe, it permits to increase the knowledge available in Africa in agreement with preliminary studies and other

atlases.

The climate zone classification only gives information about similar values of the monthly mean of the daily

clearness index. It is therefore unsuitable for direct energy calculations. If the user wants to make energy

calculations he is recommended to use a representative station of a zone for his site or for a selected geographical

position. Otherwise, he can use the readings in Table 2, selecting a station from the map and Table 3. Climatological

monthly mean of (G0d)m can be found at the SoDa Web site (see at http://www.soda-is.com and follow the link on

the simulation of the clear-sky irradiation). Using the monthly mean of the daily clearness index of a representative

site and multiplying by (G0d)m for the user site or geographical position one obtains the desired monthly mean of the

daily global irradiation.

Twenty climatic areas were identified. This number comes from pure mathematics. The links between these 20

solar radiation climates and the climates known for Africa from e.g., Trewartha (1954), are sometimes obvious,

sometimes not. This is explained by the fact that the solar radiation is not the only parameter driving the climate.

This lack of strong relationship between the climate and the solar radiation climate was already evidenced in the

ESRA.

The authors are aware of the limitations of such a zoning. Looking at the map, it is obvious that the denser the

network of stations, the more detailed the zoning. For areas with a few or no stations, the zones are very large. The

reason is clearly the lack of stations. One way to increase the quality of the zoning would be to use satellite- derived

9
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

clearness index, which would be thus available at each pixel within the whole area. Such a dataset did not exist at

the time of the work. It would have also implied much larger computational resources.

As the clearness index depends on the cloud coverage and of the optical thickness of the atmosphere, including the

turbidity of the air mass, the separate influences of the cloudiness and of the turbidity upon the irradiation may

become not evident in the clearness index. Therefore, a future improvement of this zoning process would be to use

additional information in the clustering process. This information might be the cloudiness (see e.g., Atlas of

hydrometeorological data 1991), or the Linke turbidity factor, which is not currently mapped.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the topography near to a site - the presence of mountains or the ocean - could

cause a local area to be significantly different from the region as a whole. The present map cannot reproduce these

micro-climatic effects.

The map presented here should be considered as a first attempt to describe the solar radiation climate in Africa.

International efforts are on their way, such as the creation of the database HelioClim (Lefèvre et al. 2002b;

Rigollier, Wald 1999), which aims at providing time-series of daily irradiation for Africa since 1985 through the

SoDa Web service (Wald 2000; Wald et al. 2002) or the project SWERA (Sun and Wind Energy Resource

Assessment, see reference SWERA).

6. Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by the Service de Coopération et d'Action Culturelle de l'Ambassade de France

au Mali. We are thankful to Djénéba Tounkara and Rokia Berthé for the manual digitizing of the data used in this

study. We thank one of the reviewers whose comments improve the quality of the paper.

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Wald, L., Albuisson, M., Best, C., Delamare, C., Dumortier, D., Gaboardi, E., Hammer, A., Heinemann, D.,
Kift, R., Kunz, S., Lefèvre, M., Leroy, S., Martinoli, M., Ménard, L., Page, J., Prager, T., Ratto, C., Reise, C.,
Remund, J., Rimoczi-Paal, A., Van der Goot, E., Vanroy, F., Webb, A., 2002. SoDa: a project for the integration
and exploitation of networked solar radiation databases. In: Environmental Communication in the Information
Society, W. Pillmann, K. Tochtermann Eds, Part 2, pp. 713-720. Published by the International Society for
Environmental Protection, Vienna, Austria.
Ward, J. W., 1963. Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. Journal American Statistics Association
58, 236-244.
WMO, World Meteorological Organization, 1981. Meteorological aspects of the utilization of solar radiation as
an energy source. WMO technical Note No 172, WMO ref. 557, Geneva, Switzerland, 298 pp.
WMO, World Meteorological Organization, 1998. 1961-1990 global climate normals (CLINO). CD-ROM
version 1.0, November 1998. Produced by National Climatic Data Center, NOAA, USA.
WMO, World Meteorological Organization, 2002. WMO – No 9, Weather Reporting – Observing Stations, Vol.
A. Published by WMO, Geneva, Switzerland.
WRDC (World Radiation Data Center) Data Access, see on-line at http://wrdc-
mgo.nrel.gov/html/data_access.html

11
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

Station Name (country) Latitude Longitude Elevation Period of WMO-Nr

(m) Measurement
Nador (Morocco) 35.15 -2.92 7 1994-1998 6340
El Aaiun (Western Sahara) 27.17 -13.22 64 1994-1998 60033
Tanger (Morocco) 35.72 -5.92 16 1994-1998 60101
Larache (Morocco) 35.17 -6.12 47 1994-1998 60105
Al Hoceima (Morocco) 35.17 -3.85 12 1994-1998 60107
Oujda (Morocco) 34.77 -1.92 465 1994-1998 60115
Kenitra (Morocco) 34.30 -6.60 5 1994-1998 60120
Rabat-Sale (Morocco) 34.50 -6.77 76 1994-1998 60135
Casablanca (Morocco) 33.57 -7.67 67 1994-1998 60155
Nouasseur (Morocco) 33.37 -7.57 200 1994-1998 60156
El Jadida (Morocco) 33.22 -8.52 270 1994-1998 60165
Safi (Morocco) 32.27 -9.22 45 1994-1998 60185
Beni Mellal (Morocco) 32.37 -6.40 468 1994-1998 60191
Essaouira (Morocco) 31.52 -9.77 7 1994-1998 60220
Marrakech (Morocco) 31.78 -8.20 467 1994-1998 60230
Agadir (Morocco) 30.37 -9.40 32 1994-1998 60250
Ouarzazate (Morocco) 30.92 -6.90 1136 1994-1998 60265
Tetouan (Morocco) 35.57 -5.32 5 1994-1998 60318
Tamanrasset (Algeria) 22.78 5.52 1377 1995-1999 60680
Sidi Barrani (Egypt) 31.63 25.85 26 1994-1998 62301
Mersa Matruh (Egypt) 31.33 27.22 38 1995-1998 62306
Rafah (Egypt) 31.22 34.20 73 1994-1998 62335
El Arish (Egypt) 31.12 33.75 32 1994-1998 62337
Tahrir (Egypt) 30.65 30.70 19 1994-1998 62345
Bahtim (Egypt) 30.15 31.25 17 1994-1998 62369
Cairo (Egypt) 30.08 31.28 36 1994-1998 62371
Asyut (Egypt) 27.20 31.50 52 1994-1998 62392
Aswan (Egypt) 23.97 32.78 192 1994-1998 62414
Wenchi (Ghana) 7.75 -2.10 339 1994-1998 65432
Tete (Mozambique) -16.18 33.58 123 1994-1998 67261
Maputo (Mozambique) -25.97 32.60 70 1994-1998 67341
Mansa (Zambia) -11.10 28.85 1259 1994-1998 67461
Lusaka (Zambia) -15.42 28.32 1280 1994-1998 67666
Harare (Zimbabwe) -17.83 31.02 1471 1994-1998 67774
Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) -20.15 28.62 1343 1994-1998 67964
Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia) 36.87 10.23 127 1994-1998 No Index
Sunsatorange (South Africa) -31.25 26.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat35 (Botswana) -23.75 23.75 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat36 (Mozambique) -16.25 36.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat33 (Zaire) -6.25 21.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat30 (Zaire) 1.25 21.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat37 (Kenya) 1.25 41.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat34 (Côte d'Ivoire) 6.25 -8.75 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat31 (Ghana) 8.75 -1.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat29 (Ethiopia) 8.75 41.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat32 (Chad) 11.25 21.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat28 (Sudan) 11.25 28.75 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat27 (Mali) 16.25 -6.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat25 (Sudan) 16.25 28.75 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat-1625/2125 (Mauritania) 21.25 -16.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat23 (Chad) 21.25 18.75 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat26 (Mali) 23.75 -6.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat24 (Algeria) 23.75 6.25 1985-1986 No Index
Sunsat-625/3375 (Morocco) 33.75 -6.25 1981-1990 No Index
ESRA 2700/300 (Algeria) 27.00 3.00 1981-1990 No Index
ESRA 2875/2875 (Egypt) 28.75 28.75 1981-1990 No Index
ESRA2900/1800 (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) 29 18 1981-1990 No Index
ESRA3000/1800 (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) 30 18 1981-1990 No Index

12
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

ESRA3000/2000 (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) 30.00 20.00 1981-1990 No Index

ESRA 3025/3025 (Egypt) 30.25 30.25 1981-1990 No Index
ESRA3100/2400 (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) 31 24 1981-1990 No Index
ESRA 3125/3125 (Egypt) 31.25 31.25 1981-1990 No Index

Table 1. Description of the 62 stations and other sites. They are ranked by WMO number and then by latitude.
Country nomenclature is that of WMO (2002)

Station Name Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Nador 0.51 0.51 0.54 0.54 0.60 0.61 0.60 0.57 0.55 0.54 0.50 0.51
El Aaiun 0.57 0.57 0.61 0.63 0.62 0.63 0.61 0.60 0.56 0.57 0.57 0.54
Tanger 0.51 0.50 0.57 0.54 0.59 0.62 0.56 0.62 0.59 0.55 0.48 0.50
Larache 0.49 0.50 0.56 0.54 0.58 0.61 0.63 0.62 0.59 0.54 0.47 0.48
Al Hoceima 0.52 0.51 0.53 0.52 0.57 0.59 0.60 0.57 0.54 0.56 0.48 0.51
Oujda 0.52 0.52 0.56 0.54 0.59 0.61 0.63 0.61 0.58 0.55 0.50 0.51
Kenitra 0.49 0.50 0.56 0.57 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.58 0.54 0.48 0.48
Rabat-Sale 0.52 0.51 0.58 0.57 0.60 0.61 0.63 0.62 0.60 0.56 0.51 0.52
Casablanca 0.52 0.51 0.57 0.58 0.61 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.58 0.55 0.50 0.51
Nouasseur 0.52 0.52 0.57 0.55 0.59 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.60 0.55 0.50 0.52
El Jadida 0.52 0.52 0.57 0.58 0.61 0.59 0.59 0.58 0.57 0.54 0.49 0.51
Safi 0.56 0.55 0.59 0.59 0.61 0.61 0.62 0.61 0.57 0.55 0.51 0.54
Beni Mellal 0.56 0.52 0.60 0.56 0.58 0.60 0.58 0.59 0.58 0.57 0.54 0.55
Essaouira 0.54 0.53 0.56 0.58 0.58 0.61 0.59 0.59 0.56 0.53 0.50 0.51
Marrakech 0.58 0.56 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.59 0.64 0.62 0.57 0.55 0.56 0.57
Agadir 0.57 0.55 0.58 0.59 0.58 0.58 0.56 0.56 0.53 0.54 0.52 0.56
Ouarzazate 0.63 0.62 0.64 0.65 0.63 0.65 0.63 0.60 0.57 0.58 0.59 0.61
Tetouan 0.52 0.49 0.51 0.51 0.59 0.61 0.62 0.60 0.54 0.56 0.46 0.49
Tamanrasset 0.71 0.74 0.70 0.68 0.63 0.55 0.66 0.63 0.63 0.61 0.70 0.66
Sidi Barrani 0.56 0.60 0.60 0.61 0.64 0.64 0.66 0.65 0.63 0.58 0.55 0.51
Mersa Matruh 0.54 0.57 0.59 0.61 0.64 0.65 0.64 0.64 0.62 0.57 0.50 0.51
Rafah 0.57 0.59 0.62 0.64 0.66 0.67 0.65 0.64 0.62 0.59 0.55 0.56
El Arish 0.58 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.66 0.68 0.66 0.65 0.62 0.58 0.55 0.56
Tahrir 0.56 0.58 0.58 0.62 0.64 0.66 0.64 0.63 0.62 0.57 0.54 0.54
Bahtim 0.54 0.56 0.58 0.61 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.61 0.59 0.56 0.52 0.51
Cairo 0.54 0.56 0.58 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.61 0.60 0.59 0.55 0.52 0.50
Asyut 0.63 0.67 0.68 0.67 0.66 0.68 0.66 0.65 0.64 0.61 0.59 0.59
Aswan 0.68 0.72 0.68 0.68 0.65 0.68 0.66 0.65 0.63 0.64 0.65 0.66
Wenchi 0.45 0.49 0.47 0.44 0.44 0.39 0.35 0.31 0.34 0.43 0.49 0.44
Tete 0.54 0.60 0.63 0.62 0.61 0.61 0.58 0.61 0.57 0.59 0.60 0.58
Maputo 0.57 0.59 0.57 0.58 0.58 0.61 0.60 0.60 0.58 0.52 0.51 0.57
Mansa 0.39 0.33 0.40 0.48 0.54 0.59 0.58 0.58 0.54 0.51 0.47 0.38
Lusaka 0.46 0.45 0.55 0.61 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.59 0.54 0.49
Harare 0.46 0.49 0.55 0.58 0.60 0.62 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.60 0.55 0.44
Bulawayo 0.51 0.57 0.61 0.64 0.62 0.66 0.63 0.65 0.63 0.59 0.54 0.52
Sidi Bou Said 0.50 0.54 0.56 0.54 0.59 0.60 0.57 0.59 0.55 0.55 0.49 0.51
Sunsatorange 0.63 0.61 0.62 0.59 0.62 0.58 0.62 0.64 0.66 0.58 0.63 0.67
Sunsat35 0.63 0.62 0.59 0.58 0.62 0.61 0.63 0.65 0.66 0.62 0.64 0.62
Sunsat36 0.53 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.58 0.55 0.57 0.62 0.63 0.60 0.55 0.51
Sunsat33 0.51 0.50 0.51 0.49 0.57 0.62 0.63 0.60 0.55 0.50 0.52 0.49
Sunsat30 0.59 0.58 0.52 0.52 0.51 0.52 0.49 0.53 0.48 0.47 0.51 0.58
Sunsat37 0.64 0.65 0.60 0.56 0.54 0.50 0.49 0.53 0.53 0.54 0.54 0.60
Sunsat34 0.64 0.60 0.58 0.56 0.54 0.51 0.43 0.45 0.50 0.52 0.56 0.63
Sunsat31 0.66 0.64 0.61 0.60 0.57 0.55 0.47 0.47 0.48 0.58 0.61 0.64
Sunsat29 0.73 0.69 0.69 0.58 0.65 0.63 0.63 0.64 0.63 0.66 0.69 0.69
Sunsat32 0.68 0.66 0.67 0.67 0.63 0.59 0.52 0.57 0.57 0.65 0.67 0.68
Sunsat28 0.69 0.70 0.68 0.66 0.63 0.58 0.52 0.55 0.58 0.65 0.67 0.69
Sunsat27 0.51 0.57 0.62 0.61 0.63 0.63 0.60 0.62 0.60 0.58 0.55 0.50
Sunsat25 0.62 0.63 0.65 0.61 0.63 0.62 0.59 0.60 0.60 0.62 0.58 0.58

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 Solar radiation climate in Africa

Sunsat-1625/2125 0.55 0.55 0.57 0.60 0.65 0.69 0.69 0.70 0.69 0.57 0.59 0.60
Sunsat23 0.65 0.67 0.67 0.71 0.70 0.70 0.69 0.68 0.66 0.68 0.65 0.66
Sunsat26 0.56 0.56 0.64 0.65 0.67 0.66 0.66 0.65 0.62 0.58 0.55 0.53
Sunsat24 0.59 0.62 0.65 0.68 0.70 0.68 0.70 0.71 0.65 0.62 0.61 0.59
Sunsat-625/3375 0.58 0.56 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.69 0.71 0.72 0.70 0.67 0.59 0.56
ESRA 2700/300 0.70 0.68 0.66 0.68 0.67 0.66 0.68 0.69 0.66 0.67 0.68 0.65
ESRA 2875/2875 0.58 0.62 0.64 0.65 0.65 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.66 0.63 0.60 0.55
ESRA2900/1800 0.59 0.63 0.64 0.64 0.63 0.64 0.67 0.66 0.65 0.64 0.61 0.57
ESRA3000/1800 0.58 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.63 0.65 0.67 0.67 0.65 0.63 0.60 0.57
ESRA3000/2000 0.57 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.62 0.64 0.67 0.67 0.65 0.63 0.60 0.56
ESRA 3025/3025 0.55 0.57 0.60 0.63 0.64 0.67 0.67 0.65 0.65 0.60 0.56 0.52

Table 2. Clearness indices for the 62 sites and each month

Zone Number Station Name (country)

1 Agadir, Beni Mellal, Maputo, Marrakech
2 Sunsat36
3 Sunsat29
4 Tamanrasset
5 Bahtim, Cairo, Safi
Bulawayo, ESRA 3025/3025, ESRA 3125/3125,
6 ESRA3100/2400, Mersa Matruh, Sidi Barrani,
Sunsat27, Tahrir
7 El Arish, Rafah, Sunsat26
Al Hoceima, Nador, Sidi Bou Said, Sunsat33,
8
Tetouan
Casablanca, El Jadida, Essaouira, Kenitra, Larache,
9
Nouasseur, Oujda, Rabat-Sale, Tanger
10 Sunsat30
11 Sunsat31, Sunsat34, Sunsat37
Asyut, ESRA 2875/2875, ESRA2900/1800,
12
ESRA3000/1800, ESRA3000/2000, Sunsat24
13 Sunsat-1625/2125, Sunsat-625/3375
14 Aswan, ESRA 2700/300, Sunsat23
15 El Aaiun, Ouarzazate, Sunsat25, Tete
16 Sunsat35, Sunsatorange
17 Harare, Lusaka
18 Sunsat28, Sunsat32
19 Mansa
20 Wenchi

Table 3. List of the stations for each zone

14
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

Figure 1. African countries (in dark gray) for which sunshine duration normals are available in the CLINO.
Excerpt of an image within the CLINO CD-ROM (WMO 1988)

0.030 Variance

0.030
0.025

0.025
0.020
Variance

0.020
Variance

0.015
0.015
0.010
0.010

0.005
0.005

0.000
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Number of classes

Figure 2. Overall heterogeneity within the clusters as a function of the number of classes

15
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

Figure 3. Map of the 20 solar radiation climate zones, in roman numbers.

16
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

Clearness Index for each Class (1)

0.75

0.70
1
0.65

0.60 2

0.55
KT

3
0.50

0.45 4

0.40
5
0.35

0.30
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Figure 4. The annual variation of the class-averaged (KTd)m for a class. Classes 1 to 5

Clearness Index for each Class (2)

0.75

0.70
6
0.65

0.60 7

0.55
KT

8
0.50

0.45 9

0.40
10
0.35

0.30
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Figure 5. As Fig. 4. Classes 6 to 10

17
 Solar radiation climate in Africa

Clearness Index for each Class (3)

0.75

0.70
11
0.65

0.60 12

0.55
KT

13
0.50

0.45 14

0.40
15
0.35

0.30
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Figure 6. As Fig. 4. Classes 11 to 15

Clearness Index for each Class (4)

0.75

0.70
16
0.65

0.60 17

0.55
KT

18
0.50

0.45 19

0.40
20

0.35

0.30
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Month

Figure 7. As Fig. 4. Classes 15 to 20

18