The CAMS radiation service in a nutshell
Résumé
The atmosphere service of Copernicus combines state-of-the-art atmospheric modeling on aerosols with Earth
observation data to provide information services covering European air quality, global atmospheric composition,
climate, and UV and solar energy. Besides the radiation service, it provides information on – among others –
ultra-violet radiation and aerosol concentration on a global scale as parameters being of interest for the solar
energy sector.
Within the radiation service, existing historical databases HelioClim-3 and SOLEMI for monitoring incom-
ing surface solar irradiance have been further developed. The new service is jointly provided by DLR, Armines,
and Transvalor. The Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) project series has been preparing
for the service provision, which is now operational as part of the Copernicus programme. Data are made available
both via the Copernicus portal and the SODA portal.
The radiation service consists of an all-sky radiation time series service taking satellite-based cloud param-
eters into account and a clear-sky radiation time series service for cloud-free skies. Quality of the service is
ensured by regular input quality control, regular quarterly benchmarking against ground stations, and regular
monitoring of the consistency in order to detect possible trends.
The fast clear-sky model called Copernicus McClear implements a fully physical modeling replacing em-
pirical relations or simpler models used before. It exploits the recent results on aerosol properties and total column
content in water vapor and ozone produced by the Copernicus service. Details of the clear-sky radiation service are
the same as the all-sky service, but the spatial coverage is global and any point of interest can be interpolated. Data
elements provided are clear sky (i.e. cloud free) global, direct, diffuse and direct at normal incidence irradiances,
and a verbose mode with all atmospheric input parameters used for clouds, aerosols, ozone, water vapor and the
surface reflective properties.
The paper will summarize the new service capabilities and illustrate quality control and validation results.