TY  - JOUR
A1  - Brinckmann, Sven
A1  - Trentmann, Jörg
A1  - Ahrens, Bodo
T1  - Homogeneity analysis of the CM SAF surface solar irradiance dataset derived from geostationary satellite observations
T2  - Remote sensing
N2  - A satellite-based climate record of monthly mean surface solar irradiance (SIS) is investigated with regard to possible inhomogeneities in time. The data record is provided by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF) for the period of 1983 to 2005, covering a disk area between ±70° in latitude and longitude. The Standard Normal Homogeneity Test (SNHT) and two other homogeneity tests are applied with and without the use of reference SIS data (from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) and from the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) ERA -Interim reanalysis. The focus is on the detection of break-like inhomogeneities, which may occur due to satellite or SIS retrieval algorithm changes. In comparison with the few suitable BSRN SIS observation series with limited extension in time (no data before 1992), the CM SAF SIS time series do not show significant inhomogeneities, even though slight discrepancies in the surface measurements appear. The investigation of the full CM SAF SIS domain reveal inhomogeneities related to most of the documented satellite and retrieval changes, but only for relatively small domain fractions (especially in mountainous desert-like areas in Africa). In these regions the retrieval algorithm is not capable of adjusting for the changes of the satellite instruments. For other areas, e.g., Europe, no such breaks in the time series are found. We conclude that the CM SAF SIS data record has to be further assessed and regionally homogenized before climate trend investigations can be conducted.
KW  - surface solar irradiance
KW  - satellite-derived
KW  - homogeneity
KW  - break detection
Y1  - 2013
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/32974
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-329748
SN  - 2072-4292
N1  - c 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
VL  - 6
IS  - 1
SP  - 352
EP  - 378
PB  - Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
CY  - Basel
ER  -