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Analysis of photosynthetically active radiation and applied parameterization model for estimating of PAR in the North China Plain

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Abstract

As photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) variability and PAR estimating methods play an important role in climate change and ecological process research, PAR variation trends and broadband global solar radiation (R s ) ratios (PAR/R s ) in the North China Plain (NCP) are examined using in situ PAR and R s observed data for 2005 to 2011. The annual average PAR value found in the NCP is 22.9 mol m−2 d−1. The highest and lowest values were recorded at Changwu and Luancheng sites, respectively. The highest PAR/R s value was found in Jiaozhouwan due to large water vapor volumes present in this area. PAR/R s levels have increased in the NCP due to a decrease in fine aerosols and increase in water vapor concentration. From these analysis results, a parameterization model that can be applied to all sky conditions was checked. Empirical estimation model comparisons for obtaining PAR values indicate that model was least accurate when R s was used independently. When the model included R s, the clearness index (K s) and the solar zenith angle, the model estimated PAR values with acceptable accuracy. A parameterization model was constructed by considering K s and attenuation factors of PAR under clear weather conditions (ρ clear). The improved parameterization model more accurately predicts values for local sites and for various observation sites.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41275165 and 41230642) and by the Research Program for Excellent Ph.D. Dissertations of the Chinese Academy of Science. Observation staff are gratefully acknowledged for their data collection assistance. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. The author would also like to thank Dr. T. Song and G. Q. Tang for their illustration assistance. Aerosol optical depth data may be accessed at http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry (LAPC), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Bo Hu, Yangchun Yu, Zirui Liu & Yuesi Wang

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  1. Bo Hu
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  2. Yangchun Yu
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  3. Zirui Liu
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Correspondence to Bo Hu.

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Hu, B., Yu, Y., Liu, Z. et al. Analysis of photosynthetically active radiation and applied parameterization model for estimating of PAR in the North China Plain. J Atmos Chem 73, 345–362 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-016-9330-z

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