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A new view on the trend of solar radiation in mainland China — based on the optimized empirical model

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Abstract

As a kind of renewable energy, the development and utilization of solar energy are valued by many countries. To accurately provide a basis for the use of solar energy in mainland China, the optimized empirical model is adopted to analyze the variation trends and spatial patterns in solar radiation (SR) during 1961–2016 based on the data of 31 SR sites and 500 sunshine duration (SD) stations. The results indicate that there are obvious discrepancies in the variation trends of annual SR and SD during 1961–2016, with trend conversion occurring in 1992 (SR) and 1980 (SD), respectively. Overall, annual SR decreases at the rate of −3.68 MJ/m2·a in China. Notably, SR declines at the rate of −16.95 MJ/m2·a during 1961–1989 (“dimming” stage), while it increases at the rate of 5.34 MJ/m2·a for 1990–2016 (“brightening” period). In addition, all seasons show a tendency of dimming first and then brightening except for autumn. Compared with SD, SR is more sensitive to changes in pollution, leading to a marked recovery with the reduction of pollution after the 1990s. This study provides a new perspective for the trend difference between SR and SD after the 1990s.

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Data availability

The original meteorological data were provided by the National Meteorological Information Center of the China Meteorological Administration (http://data.cma.cn). And the original API data were provided by China Environmental Monitoring Center (http://www.cnemc.cn/). The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the National Meteorological Information Center of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) for providing the meteorological data and China Environmental Monitoring Center for providing the API data. We would like to thank Prof. Hartmut Graßl (Editor-in-Chief) and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and constructive suggestions used to improve the quality of the manuscript. We would also like to thank Prof. Yan Song and Prof. Min Ji for their help.

Funding

This work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41807170), the Major Science and Technology Innovation Projects of Shandong Province (2019JZZY020103), the Talent Introduction Plan for Youth Innovation Team in Universities of Shandong Province (Innovation Team of Satellite Positioning and Navigation), the Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Foundation ([2018]1145) and the Opening Fund of Key Laboratory of Geomatics and Digital Technology of Shandong Province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Geomatics and Digital Technology of Shandong Province, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Zihao Feng, Bin Guo, Han Xu & Ying Xu

  2. College of Geodesy and Geomatics, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Zihao Feng, Bin Guo, Han Xu & Ying Xu

  3. Shandong Provincial Institute of Land Surveying and Mapping, Jinan, 250102, China

    Liguo Zhang & Jie Xu

Authors
  1. Zihao Feng
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  2. Bin Guo
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  3. Han Xu
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  4. Liguo Zhang
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  5. Jie Xu
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  6. Ying Xu
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Contributions

Zihao Feng: Data curation, writing—original draft preparation. Bin Guo: Supervision, writing—reviewing and editing. Han Xu: Visualization, investigation. Liguo Zhang: Data handling. Jie Xu: Data analysis. Ying Xu: Methodology.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bin Guo.

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The results of this study are clear and honest, without fabrication, falsification, or improper data manipulation (including image-based manipulation). The authors have adhered to discipline-specific rules for acquiring, selecting, and processing data. No data, text, or theories by others are presented. This manuscript has not submitted to more than one journal for simultaneous consideration. This submitted work is original and will not be published elsewhere in any form or language.

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Feng, Z., Guo, B., Xu, H. et al. A new view on the trend of solar radiation in mainland China — based on the optimized empirical model. Theor Appl Climatol 145, 519–532 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-021-03643-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-021-03643-8

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