By Kirsten Lea
Yesterday was a record breaker around the country as the hottest day on record. We certainly felt it here in Newcastle when we were outside, but thanks to our super energy efficient building we were very comfortable inside.
We thought you would be interested in the solar measurements we took yesterday, as measured by our National Solar Energy Centre (NSEC) weather station.
The graph shows the temperature of the air at the site, or ambient temperature, and the solar intensity specifically the direct normal insolation (DNI). DNI is the measurement of the intensity of sunlight on a surface directly facing the sun. In clear conditions the DNI can reach around 1000 Watts per square metre, yesterday’s peak of around 750 Watts per square metre was lower mostly due to the strong winds blowing in dust and smoke from bushfires across New South Wales.
If you want to know more about how we measure solar radiation check out our earlier post on our pyrheliometer.
