Solar Energy Vol. 47, No. 1, p.

49-55, 1991
Printed in the U,S.A.

0038-092X/91
$3.00 + .60
Copyright 1991 Pergamon Press plc

SOLAR RADIATION CHARACTERISTICS IN ABU DHABI

ALl M. EL-NASHAR
Water and Electricity Department, Abud Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Abstract--Based on the instantaneous globaland diffuseradiation measurements made in Abu Dhabi, UAE,
during 1987, the instantaneous values of the clearness index, diffuse fraction, atmospheric transmittance,
and extinction coefficientwere estimated and found to be strongly dependent on the air mass and month
of the year. Therefore, correlations between each of these parameters versus the air mass and month of the
year were developed using the least-squarestechnique. The diffuse fraction may alternatively be correlated
againstthe dearness index and the air mass with no seasonalinfluence.The beam transmittance was estimated
theoretically using the two-layeratmospheric model and making use of the correlation developed previously
for the extinction coefficient. The model was found to yield satisfactory results. The diffuse transmittance
was also estimated theoretically using both the RSC model and the isotropic scattering model with good
agreement with the data obtained.
1. M E A S U R E M E N T

Both the global and diffuse radiations were measured

at the Solar Desalination Plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE
(latitude 24.5 ON, longitude 54.3 E), using three pyranometers. The global measurements were taken using
two pyranometers while the third pyranometer had a
shadow band installed in order to enable the diffuse
component to be measured. One of the global measurements was taken continuously using one pyranometer (manufactured by Nakaasa Instrument Co.
of Japan, Model H-201 ) which was tilted at an angle
equal to the inclination of the collector absorber plate
(20 due south). This instrument was connected directly to the data acquisition system (DAS) which
consists ofa Thermodac 32 machine manufactured by
Eto Denki Co. of Japan. The DAS receives continuously all the measurement signals from the plant for
subsequent processing. This pyranometer was calibrated just before the commencement of testing. In
the DAS, the global solar radiation measurement was
integrated over one-hour intervals to yield the hourly
values of global solar radiation on the tilted surface.
The same measurement was also routed to a chart recorder which continuously plots the instantaneous
global solar radiation versus time. These global solar
radiation measurements were converted to corresponding values on a horizontal surface using standard
methods [ 1].
The second measurement of global radiation was
taken by a similar pyranometer located on a horizontal
surface with the measurements taken manually once
every hour during daytime. The diffuse component on
a horizontal surface was obtained by an identical pyranometer with a shadow band attached to it to prevent
beam radiation from reaching the glass dome of the
pyranometer. Measurement of the diffuse component
was also taken manually every hour. Two digital voltmeters were used to measure the hourly global and
diffuse radiation. The two pyranometers used for making these manual measurements were calibrated against
the one directly connected to the data acquisition system by first adjusting the tilt angle of the later pyra-

nometer to make it horizontal and removing the

shadow band, then comparing the instantaneous measurement values of the three pyranometers.

2. D A T A A N A L Y S I S

The weather in Abu Dhabi is extremely sunny and

dry with the annual precipitation rarely exceeding 50
ram. The skies are mostly clear during most of the
winter months, and only during few days in January
and February that overcast skies are observed. During
the summer months, however, days with hazy weather
are encountered. In these days, the air will be laden
with fine sand particles that usually precipitate on
ground objects.
With this in mind, most of the data presented in
this paper are for clear skies without any cloud cover.
Days with hazy weather are also included in the clear
sky data.

2.1. The dearness index

The clearness index is defined as the ratio of the
instantaneous global radiation on a horizontal surface
on the ground to the corresponding quantity outside
the earth's atmosphere. The extraterrestrial solar radiation on a horizontal surface was estimated from the
radiation on a normal surface and the solar altitude at
a particular time.
Data for the clearness index based on measurement
of solar radiation taken on clear days during 1987 are
plotted against the air mass in Fig. 1. The data exhibit
substantial scatter which suggests that there are other
factors affecting the clearness index in addition to the
air mass. The cumulative effects of those factors results
in changes in the composition of the air through which
radiation is going through. A least-square fit of the data
in this figure results in a correlation of the form

kt = 0.75 exp(-0.0933m)

( 1)

The clearness index varies during the day reaching its

lowest value soon after sunrise and just before sunset
49

50

A. M. EL-NASHAR
Location : A b u D h a b i . 2 4 . 5 N , 54.3E
/~ar : 1987

k : 0.75 e ('0'0933 r n )
t
1.0
x~

.8-

~!,..~,..,

,6"

il

~1

. . - . .,

".

E
o
.2-

0c
Air mass. m

Fig. 1. Clearness index vs. air mass (1987).

and attains its highest value near noon. In addition to
its diurnal variation, the clearness index has also a seasonal variation. The clearness index data were sorted
out according to the air mass and the month of the
year, and the data were then fitted to second degree
polynomials using the least-squares technique. Figure
2 shows the variation of the clearness index with the
air mass for different months for 1987. The clearness
index can be seen to reach its lowest values during
July, whereas in January its highest values are attained.
These results are a testimony of the variation in the
condition of the air between the summer and winter
months. During summer months (e.g., July), the level
of fine dust particles in the air as well as the relative
humidity are higher than that during winter months
(e.g., January). This situation can be expected to cause
an additional attenuating effect on the solar radiation
penetrating the atmosphere in the summer months,
thus resulting in a lower clearness index during those
months.
2.2 The diffuse fraction
The diffuse fraction is defined as the ratio between
the instantaneous diffuse radiation falling on a horizontal surface and the global radiation falling on the
same surface. This ratio has both diurnal and seasonal
variations. During a particular clear day, it reaches its
highest value soon after sunrise and just before sunset,
with the trend being opposite to that of the clearness
index.
The data for the diffuse fraction for clear days during
1987 are plotted against the air mass in Fig. 3. As can
be seen, there is a considerable scatter in the data but
the trend is obvious, namely, the diffuse fraction is
lowest at noon time ( m i n i m u m m), and increases as
the air mass increase. A linear least-squares fit of this
data gives a correlation of the form:

months are shown in Fig. 4. For a particular day, the

diffuse fraction can be seen to attain its minimum value
near noon time (i.e., at lowest air mass), and increases
gradually as the air mass increases. It can also be seen
that there is a strong seasonal effect on the diffuse fraction with this fraction being higher in summer than in
winter.
It is customary to express the diffuse fraction in
terms of the clearness index. Several investigators have
developed correlations between the diffuse fraction and
the clearness index starting with the early work of
Page[2] and of Liu and Jordan[3]. The effect of the
air mass on the shape of such correlations was, however,
absent in most of them. By sorting the data on the
diffuse fraction according to the value of the clearness
index, the air mass, and the month of the year, it was
possible to identify the effect of each of these three
variables on the diffuse fraction.
The d versus k, data for constant air mass and for
a particular month of the year were fitted to exponential
curves using the least-squares method. The exponential
curves have the form

d(kt, m) = exp(-akt)(b + cm)

(2)

where a, b, and c are constants. Typical results using

the data for 1987 are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. In these
figures the diffuse fraction is plotted against the clearness index for different air mass ranges.
2.3 The atmospheric transmittance
The atmospheric transmittance is defined as the ratio of beam radiation on a horizontal surface to the
extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal surface when
the sun is at the zenith. For any solar altitude, the
atmospheric transmittance may be calculated from the
relation

Gbl(]/m)
where P is the atmospheric transmittance, Gb is the
instantaneous beam radiation on a horizontal surface,
1.00

0.80

JAN

O. 60

NOV

O. 40

.... ~

~..~....~

~.

"G
0.20

d = 0.123 + 0.0894m.
The collected data on the diffuse fraction were also
sorted out according to the air mass and the month of
the year, and were fitted to polynomials of the second
degree. The resulting correlations for the different

m
oir mQss

Fig. 2. Clearnessindex vs. air mass for January, March, May,

July, September, and November 1987.

51

Solar radiation characteristics in Abu Dhabi

Location : Abu Dhabi, 24.5N, 54,3E
T

Location: AI~ Dhobi, 24.5N, 5/.3E

year: 1987

year : 1987

m= [14 -16)

d= 0"~23,008936m

--

1.0

~ ' ".
\.

s~

o
.6-

2 4 '
e~ ,

,.':
....
.ll :~" '~' " ' " '
':

,..

--

d:10985ei256kt )

"

.4-

'

:'"

",

.2J

lb'

Air mass, m

Clearness

Fig. 3. Diffuse fraction vs. air mass (1987).

Fig. 5. Diffusefraction vs. clearness index (1987).

and Go is the instantaneous extraterrestrial radiation

on a horizontal surface. It can be seen that at the zenith,
m = l, the atmospheric transmittance conform to the
definition stated above.
The atmospheric transmittance represents the extent which the atmosphere allow the solar radiation to
penetrate through it without being absorbed or scattered. It may be related to the familiar extinction coefficient by writing the following equalities
Gb = G a r . e x p ( - OgnL )

(4)

= GoP m

near noon time. Moreover, the transmittance during

January (and generally during all winter months) is
substantially higher than that during June (and all the
other summer months). This may be attributed to the
heavy dust content in the air as well as the high relative
humidity experienced during the summer months as
compared to winter months.
The transmittance of the upper layer may be estimated from a plot of the beam fraction against the air
mass. The beam transmittance may be obtained from
the clearness index and diffuse fraction using the definition of the beam transmittance

where r . = transmittance of the upper layer of the

atmosphere;
B e = the extinction coefficient; and L
= length of the bottom layer of the atmosphere. We
can therefore express the atmospheric transmittance
as

p = [ r,exp( -- hf+,rnz+)
- rxl(l/m)
l
.

n
idex,kt

(5)

The value of P varies during the day and also has a

distinct seasonal variation. Figure 7 shows this daily
and seasonal variation for two typical days in January
and June. In this figure the transmittance is plotted
versus the hour of the day. It can be seen that for any
day the transmittance is highest early in the morning
and late in the afternoon, and reaches its lowest value

kb = -

Gb

(6)

Go

= (1 - d)kt

Typical values for kb are plotted against the air mass

m in Fig. 8. The trend appears to be linear in the range
of air mass used. The transmittance of the upper atmospheric layer may be obtained by extending the
straight line to m = 0; this gives r , = 0.75. Based on
this value, the extinction coefficient of the lower atmospheric layer may be expressed in terms of the

Location: Abu Dhabi, 24.5*N, 54.30E

year : 1987
m=(25-

3.5)

1.00
-I~
g
+d

g
~

0.80

~....

_J

Jl~.v

x~

,.../

0.60

.8-

~ ,

-- d:1256 e(q892 kt)

.6-

040

JAN

=~ .~c3

0.20

.20 O0
2

m
air m u s s

Fig. 4. Diffusefraction vs. air mass for January, March, May,

July, September, and November (1987).

(7)

C~eomess index, kt

Fig. 6. Diffuse fraction vs. clearness index (1987).

52

A.M. EL-NASHAR

atmospheric trenumltlafloe, P

0.8 ~:

Table 1. Values of the constants a and b for each

month of 1987

Month

o . e ~ ;
i~ - ~ - ~ '
o.( ...............................................................................
o.= .................................................................

Value of constant a

Value of constant b

0.66
0.65
0.57
0.61
0.54
0.47
0.45
0.54
0.56
0.59
0.59
0.65

0.013
0.018
0.026
0.014
0.027
0.006
0.006
0.010
0.010
0.020
0.030
0.010

January
February
March
April
May

:30

13
8:0

i
9.30

i
10:30

i
11:30

I
12:30

i
13:30

i
t
14=30 1 & 3 0

i
16:30

17:30

time of day
--

J a n u a r y 1987

June

July

August
September

- 4 - - J u n e 1987

Fig. 7. Atmospheric transmittance at Abu Dhabi (latitude

24.5N, longitude 54.3E).
atmospheric transmittance P and the air mass m as
follows:
/~e= _ [ 0 ~ 9 + I n ( P ) ] .

(8)

Similar to the atmospheric transmittance, the extinction coefficient was also found to be influenced by the
air mass and the season of the year. For a particular
day, the extinction coefficient is largest near noontime
(lowest air mass) and then drops down as we move
away from noon time. This trend is shown clearly in
Fig. 8 which gives two plots of fie versus m obtained
from least-squares fit of experimental data obtained
for January and June 1987. One can observe from these
figures that the extinction coefficient is a strong function of the season of the year. This again reflects the
seasonal variation in the condition of the atmosphere
as influenced by its content of dust and water vapor
(humidity), and possibly other constituents.
For any particular day, the atmospheric transmittance was found to depend on the air mass and the
month of the year. The relationship between the atmospheric transmittance and the air mass is approximately linear and the experimental data were therefore
fitted to a straight line of the form P ( m ) = a + b. m,
where the constants a and b are dependent on the
month of the year. The value of these constants which
were obtained for Abu Dhabi using the 1987 data and
are given in Table 1.
With the atmospheric transmittance known, it is
now possible to estimate the extinction coefficient/38

October
November
December

as a function of the air mass m and the month of the

year. Substituting this linear relationship for P ( m ) in
eqn (8) yields

Be(m,i) = - [ 0 ~ 9 + ln(a + b ' m ) 1 .

The extinction coefficient is seen to have a strong dependence on both the air mass and time of day, attaining its minimum value at solar noon and steadily
increases as we move away from solar noon. One factor
which may contribute to this is that during many clear
days the humidity generally achieves its lowest value
close to noon and is usually higher in the morning and
afternoon than it is at noon. The figures also deafly
indicate that the extinction coefficient is very much
affected by the season of the year with summer coefficients substantially higher than the winter values. This
may be expected from observing the weather conditions
in Abu Dhabi during summer and winter months;
whereas the visibility is usually high and atmospheric
turbidity low during most of the time in winter, the
summer is usually characterized by low visibility, haze,
and turbid air.
32 COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
WITH THEORY

3.1 The beam radiation component

The beam radiation incident on a horizontal surface
on the ground will naturally depend on the absorption

1.00
beam transmittance
~"
c

.M

0.80

0`60

s"

.~

0`'tO

._c

0.20

~b "~' .4....

0.00
t

2
air

3
m
mass

Fig. 8. Variation of the extinction coefficient with air mass

for January and June (1987).

0
1.5

rn
air mass

Fig. 9. Variation ofkb with air mass. Comparison of the RSC

model with the experimental data for January 1987, y = 4.0,
= 0.01.

Solar radiation characteristics in Abu Dhabi

beam

t .....

pressure of water vapor, p,, as: y = 0.25p, with p, having the unit of mbar. o is/~ngstrom's turbidity coefficient which, according to ref. 4, ranges between 0.01
and 0.3.
From eqn (10) we can write the beam fraction in
terms of the different trasmittances

ittanee

0
1.5

m
a i r mass

kb(m, y, a) = r a ( m ) ' r w ( m , y)

Fig. 10. Variation of kb with air mass. Comparison of the

RSC model with the experimental data for June 1987, y
= 10.0, o = 0.01.

and scattering activities taking place in the atmosphere.

The general form of the clear sky beam radiation may
be expressed as [ 4 ]:

Gb = Go* T a

(10)

* Tw " Tr " Tm

where Go is the extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal

surface, 7"a, rw, rr, and zm are, respectively, the transmittance due to absorption by atmospheric gases, by
water vapor, by Raleigh scattering and by Mie scattering. Each of these four transmittances represent a separate attenuating mechanism acting on the incoming
beam radiation.
Based on the texts by Robinson [ 5 ] and Seller [ 6 ],
Carroll [ 4 ] presented relationships for these four transmittances written in terms of the precipitable water in
the atmosphere, the atmospheric turbidity coefficient
and the air mass:
ra(m)

= 10 -(0"002m)

( 11)

rw(m,y) = 10 -[('4y''+O'Oty)ml
rr( m )

53

= 10 -(O'054m-O'OO88m2+l'OS" lO-3m3-5"l " lO-'m')

rm(m, o) = 10 -(0"666"m)

(12)
(13)
(14)

where y (in cm) is the precipitable water in the atmosphere and may be estimated in terms of the partial

" r r ( m ) ' r m ( m , tr)

Figures 9 and 10 show the measured and calculated

values of kb versus m for January and June 1987, respectively, and indicate a reasonable agreement between the RSC model and the actual data. The beam
transmittance is shown to reach its highest value at
noon and drops down on either side of noon time to
reach its lowest value just after sunrise or just before
sunset. While the trend is identical for January and
June, the beam fractions during June is lower than
that for January. The different values of y used for
January and June reflects the difference in the average
humidity prevailing during these months in Abu
Dhabi.
3.2 The diffuse radiation component
The diffuse transmittance kd can now be determined
as a function of the beam transmittance kb. Following
Hollands [ 7 ] and Suehrcke and McCormick [ 8 ], we
assume that the atmosphere may be divided into two
layers. The top layer represents a layer with zero scattering and combines the selective absorption by atmospheric gases such as H20 and 03, whose absorption
shows only a week dependence on the air mass. Hence,
the beam radiation transmitted by the top layer and
incident on the bottom layer is ruGo, where ru is the
transmittance of the upper layer. The bottom layer,
which is the layer of the main concern, is assumed to
exhibit both absorption and scattering. To specify the
extent of scattering relative to absorption, a scattering
albedo, ~0, has been defined as: o~= fls/(fl, + fla), where
B~and ~a are the scattering and absorption coefficients
for beam radiation in the bottom layer.

0.1.

JanuQry 1987

"~

0.2

7'07,'*o

. . --" ~ e7

ko,

J
1.0

2.0

(15)

3.0
oir m o s s . m

&.O

S.O

Fig. 11. The diffuse transmittance vs. the air mass for January 1987, Bs = 0.8fie.

54
0.8

A.M.

EL-NASHAR

diffuse transmlttanoe, kcl

0.2

0.1

make a good fit of the experimental data for January

was estimated to be 0.8Be. Furthermore, the forward
and backward scattering fractions, J~ and J~, were
taken as 0.7 and 0.3, respectively.
Perhaps the simplest model for predicting the diffuse
transmittance for the two-layer atmosphere is that
based on the scattering of the lower layer being assumed
to be isotropic, implying that 50% of the scattered radiation would be scattered up and 50% scattered down
and eventually reaching the ground. Based on this
simplification, the diffuse energy reaching the ground
would be

/___-------------

air melts, m
*

0ata

--

kd - O.fi(~u-kb)

Fig. 12. The diffuse transmittance vs. air mass for

June 1987.

kd = 0.5(ru -- kb).

An equation analogous to eqn (4) may be written to

express the beam radiation at a distance x measured
from the top edge of the lower atmospheric layer,

Go(x) = G o r , e x p ( - ~ d n x )

r(x) =

J)~'(x)i

ffr(x)f + fbr(x)o

Using the empirical relationship between k0 and rn (eqn

( 15 )), the above expression for kd was plotted in Fig.
12. It can be seen that, in spite of its simplicity, this
model does predict the diffuse transmittance quite well.

(16)

where Be = BQ +/5~. The beam radiation scattered in

an infinitesimal layer of thickness d x around x may
be expressed as: dGs = Go(x).B~. m . d x . Following[8], we assume that out of the amount dG, scattered
in dx, an amount dGd reaches the ground which may
be written as: dGd = dG~. r(x), where r(x) is a ratio
given in [8] as:

(17)

whereJ]is the effective fraction scattered forward, and

J~ is the fraction scattered backward, r f a n d rb are the
transmittances of the scattered radiation to the ground
and to the top of the scattering layer, respectively. These
transmittances were approximated by that of beam radiation thus,

4. CONCLUSION
Based on instantaneous measurements taken during
1987 for the global and diffuse radiation in Abu Dhabi,
the clearness index, diffuse fraction, atmospheric
transmittance, and the extinction coefficient were correlated against the air mass and month of the year.
The diffuse fraction was also found to depend on both
the clearness index as well as the air mass with minimal
seasonal effects. The beam transmittance was estimated
theoretically using the two-layer atmosphere model and
the correlation for the extinction coefficient obtained
previously. This model was found to agree reasonably
well with the experimental data. The diffuse transmittance was estimated using both the RSC model as well
as the isotropic scattering model; the results from both
these models were compared with the measured data.
The agreement appeared good.

NOMENCLATURE

-rf= exp[-/3e(L - X)]

constants for a particular month

d diffuse fraction
h fraction of radiation scattered forward
A fraction of radiation scattered backward
Gb instantaneous beam radiation on a horizontal surface
Go instantaneous extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal surface
G~ instantaneousdiffuseradiation on a horizontalsurface
k, clearness index
ks beam transmittance
k~ diffuse transmittance
L height of bottom atmospheric layer
air mass
m
P atmospheric transmittance
P~ partial pressure of water vapor in the air
r( x) ratio of scattered radiation at x reaching ground
X distance measured verticallydownward from the top
edge of the bottom atmospheric layer
amount of precipitable water vapor in the air
Y

d, b, c

and
rb = exp(-B~x)
The terrestrial diffuse radiation was obtained by
Suehrcke and McCormick[8] by integrating the
expression for dGa from x = 0 to x = L after substituting for dG, and r ( x ) , thus

Ga = GoTu | L
do

ff'rf
d x (18)
f~I + fb~o

The diffuse transmittance, kd = Gd/Go, was calculated

for different values of air mass and for each month of
the year using the above equation, and the calculated
results were compared with values obtained from
measured diffuse radiation in Abu Dhabi. Typical resuits for January 1987 are shown in Fig. 11. In this
figure the scattering coefficient/3s which was found to

(19)

Greek
t~e extinction coefficient
Bo extinction coefficientdue to absorption
Os extinction coefficientdue to scattering

Solar radiation characteristics in Abu Dhabi

ru
r=
rw
T,
r,~

transmittance due to upper atmospheric layer

transmittance due to absorption by atmospheric gases
transmittance due to absorption by water vapor
transmittance due to Raleigh scattering
transmittance due to Mie scattering
Ty transmittance of forward scattered radiation
rb transmittance of backward scattered radiation
scattering albedo

Acknowledgments--The author wishes to express his gratitude

for the help provided by Mr. Amer A. Qamheya who compiled
the data and developed the computer program which was used
for data analysis. The moral support and encouragement of
the Director General, Power and Desalination Plants of the
WED, Abu Dhabi is very much appreciated.

REFERENCES

1. J. A. Du~e and W. A. Beckman, Solar engineering of

thermal processes, Wiley, New York (1980).

55

2. J. K. Page, The estimation of monthly mean values of

daily total short-wave radiation on vertical and inclined
surfaces from sunshine records for latitudes 40N to 40S.
In: Proc. U.N. Conf. on New Sources of Energy, New York,
Iiol. 4, pp. 379. United Nations, New York (1964).
3. B.Y.H. Liu and R. C. Jordan, The interrelationship and
characteristic distribution of direct, diffuse, and total solar
radiation, Solar Energy 4( l ), (1960).
4. J.J. Carroll, Global transmissivity and diffuse fraction of
solar radiation for clear and cloudy skies as measured and
as predicted by bulk transmissivity models, Solar Energy
35(2), 105-118 (1985).
5. N. Robinson, Solar radiation, Elsevier, Amsterdam
(1966).
6. W. D. Seller, Physical dimatology, University of Chicago
Press, Chicago (1965).
7. K. G. T. Hollands, A derivation of the diffuse fraction's
dependence on the clearness index, Solar Energy 35 (2),
131-136 (1985).
8. H. Suehrcke and P. G. McCormick, The frequency distribution of instantaneous insolation values, Solar Energy
40(5), 423-430 (1988).