TY - JOUR

T1 - Surface Solar Extremes in the Most Irradiated Region on Earth, Altiplano

AU - Cordero, Raúl R.

AU - Feron, Sarah

AU - Damiani, Alessandro

AU - Sepúlveda, Edgardo

AU - Jorquera, Jose

AU - Redondas, Alberto

AU - Seckmeyer, Gunther

AU - Carrasco, Jorge

AU - Rowe, Penny

AU - Ouyang, Zutao

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments. We thank the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center, the Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and each of the satellite teams for the data access and all their hard work in producing the datasets. We also thank the SKYNET, EUBREWNET, and AERONET teams as well as the researchers contributing to the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). The support of ANID (ANILLO ACT210046) and Dicyt-USACH 042331CC_AYUDANTE and 042231CC_AYUDANTE is gratefully acknowledged. P.R. is grateful for funding from NSF Award 2127632.

PY - 2023/6/1

Y1 - 2023/6/1

N2 - Satellites have consistently pointed to the Altiplano of the Atacama Desert as the place on Earth where the world’s highest surface irradiance occurs. This region, near the Tropic of Capricorn, is characterized by its high elevation, prevalent cloudless conditions, and relatively low concentrations of ozone, aerosols, and precipitable water. Aimed at studying the variability of the surface solar irradiance and detecting atmospheric composition changes in the Altiplano, an atmospheric observatory was set up in 2016 at the northwestern border of the Chajnantor Plateau (5,148 m MSL, 22.95°S, 67.78°W, Chile). Here, we report on the first 5 years of measurements at this observatory that establish the Altiplano as the region that receives the highest-known irradiation on Earth and illuminate the unique features of surface solar extremes at high-altitude locations. We found that the global horizontal shortwave (SW) irradiance on the plateau is on average 308 W m−2 (equivalent to an annual irradiation of 2.7 MWh m−2 yr−1, the highest worldwide). We also found that forward scattering by broken clouds often leads to intense bursts of SW irradiance; a record of 2,177 W m−2 was measured, equivalent to the extraterrestrial SW irradiance expected at approximately 0.79 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. These cloud-driven surface solar extremes occur on the Chajnantor Plateau at a frequency, intensity, and duration not previously seen anywhere in the world, making the site an ideal location for studying the response of photovoltaic (PV) power plants to periods of enhanced SW variability.

AB - Satellites have consistently pointed to the Altiplano of the Atacama Desert as the place on Earth where the world’s highest surface irradiance occurs. This region, near the Tropic of Capricorn, is characterized by its high elevation, prevalent cloudless conditions, and relatively low concentrations of ozone, aerosols, and precipitable water. Aimed at studying the variability of the surface solar irradiance and detecting atmospheric composition changes in the Altiplano, an atmospheric observatory was set up in 2016 at the northwestern border of the Chajnantor Plateau (5,148 m MSL, 22.95°S, 67.78°W, Chile). Here, we report on the first 5 years of measurements at this observatory that establish the Altiplano as the region that receives the highest-known irradiation on Earth and illuminate the unique features of surface solar extremes at high-altitude locations. We found that the global horizontal shortwave (SW) irradiance on the plateau is on average 308 W m−2 (equivalent to an annual irradiation of 2.7 MWh m−2 yr−1, the highest worldwide). We also found that forward scattering by broken clouds often leads to intense bursts of SW irradiance; a record of 2,177 W m−2 was measured, equivalent to the extraterrestrial SW irradiance expected at approximately 0.79 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun. These cloud-driven surface solar extremes occur on the Chajnantor Plateau at a frequency, intensity, and duration not previously seen anywhere in the world, making the site an ideal location for studying the response of photovoltaic (PV) power plants to periods of enhanced SW variability.

KW - Atmosphere

KW - Extreme events

KW - Renewable energy

KW - Shortwave radiation

KW - South America

KW - Surface observations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164661719&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1175/bams-d-22-0215.1

DO - 10.1175/bams-d-22-0215.1

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85164661719

VL - 104

SP - E1206-E1221

JO - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

JF - Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

SN - 0003-0007

IS - 6

ER -