Comparison of NASA-POWER surface solar UVA irradiance with ground-based measurements in Argentina

Abstract

Abstract. High-quality ground-based measurement is the most reliable technique for obtaining local surface solar irradiances and it is crucial to validate satellite retrievals. Within the framework of the SAVER-Net Project (2013-2018), ground-based instruments for solar UVA (315-400 nm) irradiance measurement at horizontal plane have been installed at 7 sites along Argentina from ~26ºS to ~52ºS (Orte et al., 2022). In this work, daily averages of surface solar UVA irradiance from NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (NASA-POWER; power.larc.nasa.gov) are compared against UVA ground-based measurements an the 7 SAVER-Net sites. All sites present high correlation, with two stations showing coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.89 and the others above 0.96, and generalized low values of MAE and RMSE.