Impact of Kuwait’s oil-fire smoke on global solar radiation components at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

The impact of the 1991 Kuwait’s Oil Fire smoke on global horizontal solar radiation as well as on different components (diffuse and broad bands) of the global solar radiation has been investigated using measurements made at the automatic solar radiation and meteorological monitoring station, Dhahran (26° 32'N, 50° 13' E), Saudi Arabia.

Results indicate that the global horizontal irradiance on smoky days was 70-89 percent of that on clear/non-smoky days and that the Clearness Index was about 0.52.

The impact of the smoke cloud was very pronounced during July 1991.

The diffuse fraction as a percentage of the total radiation for the month of July 1991 was higher than the long-term average of the same month by about 37%.

The broadband radiations in the wavelength bands of 495-2800, 530-2800, 630-2800, and 695-2800 during the month of July 1991 are less than the long-term average of the same month by about 33.4%, 31.1%, 29.1%, and 28.2 % respectively.