Evaluation of MODIS-derived estimates of the albedo over the Atacama Desert using ground-based spectral measurements

verfasst von

Raúl R. Cordero, Sarah Feron, Edgardo Sepúlveda, Alessandro Damiani, Juan M. Carrera, Jose Jorquera, Juan A. Alfonso, Rosalino Fuenzalida, Miguel Rivas, Shelley MacDonell, Gunther Seckmeyer, Chenghao Wang, Zutao Ouyang, Stef Lhermitte

Abstract

Surface albedo is an important forcing parameter that drives the radiative energy budget as it determines the fraction of the downwelling solar irradiance that the surface reflects. Here we report on ground-based measurements of the spectral albedo (350–2200 nm) carried out at 20 sites across a North–South transect of approximately 1300 km in the Atacama Desert, from latitude 18° S to latitude 30° S. These spectral measurements were used to evaluate remote sensing estimates of the albedo derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We found that the relative mean bias error (RMBE) of MODIS-derived estimates was within ± 5% of ground-based measurements in most of the Atacama Desert (18–27° S). Although the correlation between MODIS-derived estimates and ground-based measurements remained relatively high (R= 0.94), RMBE values were slightly larger in the southernmost part of the desert (27–30° S). Both MODIS-derived data and ground-based measurements show that the albedo at some bright spots in the Atacama Desert may be high enough (up to 0.25 in visible range) for considerably boosting the performance of bifacial photovoltaic technologies (6–12%).

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Meteorologie und Klimatologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Universidad de Santiago de Chile
Reichsuniversität Groningen
Chiba University
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas
Universidad Arturo Prat
Universidad de Tarapacá
Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA)
Stanford University
Delft University of Technology

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Scientific reports

Band

11

ISSN

2045-2322

Publikationsdatum

06.10.2021

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Allgemein

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98622-4 (Zugang: Offen)