Comparison between winter and summer sky-luminance distribution in Central Europe and in the Eastern Mediterranean

This work studies the illuminance levels at a city in Central Europe (Bratislava) and another in the Eastern Mediterranean (Athens) and defines the prevailing sky-luminance distributions for winter and summer. The data used are 5-min values of global and diffuse horizontal irradiance and illuminance along with zenith luminance from the IDMP stations at the two cities for a period of 5 years. The study is based on the new set of the sky types recently adopted by CIE. These sky standards correspond to 15 theoretical diagrams of the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse horizontal illuminance against solar altitude. The theoretical curves converge above 35 degrees of solar elevation and in many cases they intersect each other. For this reason, each observation is classified into one of the 15 sky standards, only when the value of the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse horizontal illuminance lies in a zone of +/- 2.5% around the theoretical curve describing the specific category. If any observation is classified into more than one sky standards, the corresponding ratio of global horizontal illuminance to extraterrestrial horizontal illuminance is compared to the average ratio of the sky types implicated, for the same solar altitude, and the observation is classified in the sky type with the nearest value. It is found that the most frequent sky types for Bratislava are the overcast sky with steep luminance gradation and slight brightening towards the sun (winter) and the white-blue sky with a distinct solar corona (summer), while for Athens the cloudless polluted sky prevails in both seasons. It is also found that during a summer day, a noticeable shift appears in the sky-luminance distribution at both sites. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd.