Assessment of Sunshine Duration for Various Time Resolutions Based on Pyranometric Data (An Example from Temperate Transition Climate of Central Europe)

Sunshine duration (SD) is one of the essential meteorological variables. It represents the sum of time for which direct solar radiation with an intensity above 120 W∙m⁻² reaches the Earth’s surface. In the contemporary observational routine, automatic electronic devices are in use. The pyranometric method based on the measurements of global solar radiation measurements (K_glob) is also proposed by WMO to assess SD. The aim of the paper is to study the accuracy of the Slob–Monna method (SD-WMO), recommended by WMO to calculate sunshine duration. Alternatively, the author’s method, which is based on the Ångström clearness index (SD-ACI), was used to approximate SD. In this purpose, two years series of SD and K_glob observations at four locations in Poland (well representing Central European transitional climate zone) were analyzed. The result shows that, for SD-WMO, sunshine duration values are on average 16% higher than observed ones. For the SD-ACI method, they are only 5% higher. When verifying the accuracy of SD-WMO and SD-ACI approximations, we have found that both for daily and monthly periods the calculated SD sums are closer to the observed ones in the case of SD-ACI than for the SD-WMO method. The correlation coefficients are, respectively, 0.98 and 0.82 (for daily sums) as well as 0.99 and 0.88 for monthly sums.