European Solar Microclimates

Summary

The research programme on Eurpean solar microclimates aims for better prediction of the technically usable solar radiation of a specific site on the basis of currently available site specific data i.e. synoptic meteorological data, pollution, orography and topography.

At eight characteristic sites precise recordings are done for global solar radiation, meteorological data and pollution. These sites are Brussels and Torino (industrial cities situated in plains), Grenoble and Saarbrücken (industrial towns in narrow valleys), Vendee in France and the Pentland Hills in Scotland (interaction of coastal marine and inland climate), Sierra Nevada (strong climatic variations in mountain valleys) and Strasbourg (large valley with surrounding mountains). In the course of the past twelve months the measuring stations have been put into operation and the test phase has be accomplished. Despite the bad wheather situation of this year first results could be achieved and the functionality of the programme approach and the applied means could be proved.