WMO GAW World Solar Radiation Data Archive

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) World Radiation Data Centre (WRDC) was established in 1964. It is located at the Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, and serves as a central depository for solar radiation data collected at over 1000 measurement sites throughout the world. The WRDC centrally collects, archives and published radiometric data from the world to ensure the availability of these data for research by the international scientific community.

The WRDC is the central depository of the measured components such as: global, diffuse and direct solar radiation, downward atmospheric radiation, net total and terrestrial surface radiation (upward), spectral radiation components (instantaneous fluxes), and sunshine duration, on hourly, daily or monthly basis.

At the present time, recent and current data can be viewed by accessing the WRDC web site. It also contains a list of all stations that have submitted data. As new measurement data are received from National Meteorological Services and other institutions in paper form, on magnetic media or electronically, the WRDC performs a supplementary quality control and requests stations to confirm the data for total quality assurance. The data from GAW sites is represented in a specified directory as tables and as figures including graphs showing relationships between measured and estimated parameters.

In addition to WRDC, there are four other GAW WDCs, each responsible for archiving one or more GAW measurement parameters or measurement types: Aerosols; Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation; Precipitation Chemistry; and Greenhouse Gases. Metadata for the other GAW monitoring programmes are also registered in ORNL DAAC Regional and Global Environmental Database.