Determination of Linke turbidity factor from solar radiation measurement in Adrar city

The objective of this study is to contribute to the national efforts in establishing solar radiation in many regions of Algeria. The atmospheric Linke turbidity factor (TL) is a very suitable approximation to model the atmospheric absorption and scattering of the extraterrestrial radiation relative to dry and clean atmosphere. TL is a key input for several models that assess the solar radiation under clear skies. In this paper, a procedure for calculation of the Linke turbidity factor is adopted using pyrheliometric measurements of the beam radiation in the Sahara desert area of Adrar region, Algeria, during February 2013 to December 2014. Temporal variation, daily and monthly average values for the site were computed and analyzed. It is observed that there is a high correlation between atmospheric turbidity and meteorological parameters (wind speed, temperature and humidity). A comparison has also been carried out with results acquired in Ghardaïa and Tamanrasset regions.