Sun shines with higher probability in Baltic Sea than inland

Research looked at the amount of surface solar radiation on both sides of the Baltic Sea coastal line, inland and in the sea. The sea areas receive on average 10 % more surface solar radiation than the areas inland.

Photo: NASA Worldview (CC-BY)

The difference is equivalent to sea areas experiencing around six more days of full sunshine during the three summer months, compared to areas inland. On annual level, this means 8 % difference. Quantitative estimations like this have not been calculated before. Therefore, this research brought new information on the variation of surface solar radiation in the Baltic coastal areas.

Research is part of international cooperation between the meteorological institutes of Finland, Sweden and Germany in BCDC Energy project.

More information:

Research professor Anders Lindfors, 050 433 1055, anders.lindfors@fmi.fi

Link to the scientific article: Lindfors et al. 2020. On the Land-Sea Contrast in the Surface Solar Radiation (SSR) in the Baltic Region. Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12213509

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