Weather: Solar Intensity as a function of time (angle in sky)?, 1 by krystian

krystian wrote:
Hello,

I'm rather curious about the following subject:

Disregarding effects of clouds (and other weather), and southward movements as year progresses: Is there a function where I may know the intensity of the sun with respect to the angle of the sun relative to the ground? Perhaps this data may be derived from observation and empiricism to take into account atmospheric filtering effects which are always present (unlike weather and southward movements). These filtering effects prevent blindly using mathematical formula without observational backing.

I believe this phenominom (either is, or is related to) "Effective Heating" (the intensity of a given quantity of solar energy projected upon a region.)

Assuming noon and midnight happen when the sun is directly above or under, I suggest the following terminology so as to keep our discussion synchronous with what we mean:

Premise and terminology:

Solar intensity is greatest ~noon.
- Lets call this 100% intensity.
- Sun is at 90 degree angle to surface.

Solar intensity is weakest ~midnight
- Lets call this 0% intensity
- Sun is at a 270 degree angle to surface.

Degrees: Counterclockwise, where 0 degrees is straight line going on origin. I attached an exagerrated comical image to define points of reference of location.

And yes, that's the "Angry Sun" from Super Mario Bros. 3. I felt the characature is appropriate given the hot weather in Florida.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2005 5:15 PM