Sunlight variations under broken clouds

Summary

Sunlight varies on scales as small as seconds or tens of meters, largely due to clouds. There is not much known about of variations of this fundamental energy input from the Sun at scales this small. Atmospheric models are beginning to resolve individual clouds, however, and demand for accurate solar radiation forecasts is increasing with the rapid growth of solar energy. In this thesis, we quantify the variability of sunlight with spatial measurements using novel, low-cost instruments. We furthermore analyse these new and other existing measurements to understand the link to clouds of all kinds. The new observational data and insights from this research will help build and validate new models capable of resolving small-scale variations in sunlight in the presence of clouds.