• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2016

Experiments were carried out to quantify the topographic effects on attenuation of sunshine in complex terrain and the results are expected to help convert the coarse resolution sunshine duration information provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) into a detailed map reflecting the terrain characteristics of mountainous watershed. Hourly shaded relief images for one year, each pixel consisting of 0 to 255 brightness value, were constructed by applying techniques of shadow modeling and skyline analysis to the 3m resolution digital elevation model for an experimental watershed on the southern slope of Mt. Jiri in Korea. By using a bimetal sunshine recorder, sunshine duration was measured at three points with different terrain conditions in the watershed from May 15, 2015 to May 14, 2016. The brightness values of the 3 corresponding pixel points on the shaded relief map were extracted and regressed to the measured sunshine duration, resulting in a brightness-sunshine duration response curve for a clear day. We devised a method to calibrate this curve equation according to sky condition categorized by cloud amount and used it to derive an empirical model for estimating sunshine duration over a complex terrain. When the performance of this model was compared with a conventional scheme for estimating sunshine duration over a horizontal plane, the estimation bias was improved remarkably and the root mean square error for daily sunshine hour was 1.7hr, which is a reduction by 37% from the conventional method. In order to apply this model to a given area, the clear-sky sunshine duration of each pixel should be produced on hourly intervals first, by driving the curve equation with the hourly shaded relief image of the area. Next, the cloud effect is corrected by 3-hourly 'sky condition' of the KMA digital forecast products. Finally, daily sunshine hour can be obtained by accumulating the hourly sunshine duration. A detailed sunshine duration distribution of 3m horizontal resolution was obtained by applying this procedure to the experimental watershed.