A database of multi-year (2004-2010) quality-assured surface solar hourly irradiation measurements for the Egyptian territory

A database containing the global and diffuse components of the surface solar hourly irradiation measured from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2010 at eight stations of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority is presented. For three of these sites (Cairo, Aswan, and El-Farafra), the direct component is also available. In addition, a series of meteorological variables including surface pressure, relative humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction is provided at the same hourly resolution at all stations. The details of the experimental sites and instruments used for the acquisition are given. Special attention is paid to the quality of the data and the procedure applied to flag suspicious or erroneous measurements is described in details. Between 88 and 99% of the daytime measurements are validated by this quality control. Except at Barrani where the number is lower (13500), between 20000 and 29000 measurements of global and diffuse hourly irradiation are available at all sites for the 7-year period. Similarly, from 9000 to 13000 measurements of direct hourly irradiation values are provided for the three sites where this component is measured. With its high temporal resolution this consistent irradiation and meteorological database constitutes a reliable source to estimate the potential of solar energy in Egypt. It is also adapted to the study of high-frequency atmospheric processes such as the impact of aerosols on atmospheric radiative transfer. In the next future, it is planned to complete regularly the present 2004-2010 database.本数据集收录了埃及气象管理局（Egyptian Meteorological Authority）下属8个观测站在2004年1月1日至2010年12月31日期间测得的地表逐小时太阳辐射的总辐射与散射辐射分量。其中3个站点（开罗、阿斯旺与法拉法拉）还提供了直接辐射分量数据。此外，所有站点均同步提供了逐小时分辨率的一系列气象变量，包括地表气压、相对湿度、气温、风速与风向。文中详细说明了实验站点与采集所用仪器的相关信息。研究重点关注数据质量，并详细阐述了用于标记可疑或错误测量值的质控流程。通过该质控流程，日间测量数据中有88%至99%得到了有效验证；仅巴拉尼站的数据量较低（13500条），其余站点在7年观测期内的逐小时总辐射与散射辐射测量值数量介于20000至29000条之间。同样，在提供直接辐射分量的3个站点中，逐小时直接辐射测量值数量介于9000至13000条之间。凭借高时间分辨率，这套一致性良好的辐射与气象数据库可为埃及太阳能潜力评估提供可靠的数据来源，同时也适用于气溶胶对大气辐射传输影响等高频大气过程的相关研究。未来计划定期更新这套2004-2010年的现有数据库。