ALBERT

Description: Modeling short wave solar radiation using the JGrass-NewAge System Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 5, 4355-4393, 2012 Author(s): G. Formetta, R. Rigon, J. L. Chávez, and O. David This paper presents two new modelling components based on the Object Modelling System v3 for the calculation of the shortwave incident radiation (R ^ sw ↓) on complex topography settings, and the implementation of several ancillary tools. The first component, NewAGE-SwRB, accounts for slope, aspect, shadow and the topographical information of the sites, and use suitable parametrisation for obtaining the cloudless irradiance. A second component, NewAGE-DEC-MOD's is implemented to estimate the irradiance reduction due to the presence of clouds, according to three parameterisations. To obtain a working modelling composition, suitable to be compared with ground data at measurement stations, the two components are connected to a Kriging component, and, with the use of a further component NewAGE-V (verification package), the performance of modeled (R ^ sw ↓) is quantitatively evaluated. The two components (and the various parametrisations they contain) are tested using the data from three basins catchments, and some simple verification test is made to assess the goodness of the methods used. The components are part of a larger system, JGrass-NewAGE, their input and outputs are given as geometrical objects immediately visualisable in a GIS (for instance the companion uDig), and can be used seamlessly with the various modelling solutions available in JGrass-NewAGE for the estimation of long wave radiation, evapotranspiration, and snow melting, as well as stand-alone components to just estimate shortwave radiation for various uses. The modularity of the approach is shown to be extensible to more accurate physical-statistical studies aimed to assess in deep the components performances and extends spatially their results, without the necessity of recoding any part of the component but just making using of connective scripts.