Solar Radiation of Hawai‘i

The Solar Radiation of Hawai‘i website provides a set of maps of the spatial patterns of solar radiation for the major Hawaiian Islands. Solar radiation was mapped as part of a larger project on evapotranspiration. In addition to solar radiation, numerous other variables, such as air temperature and relative humidity, had to be estimated. Those, along with evapotranspiration, are included here, too. Most variables are mapped for each hour of the average 24-hour cycle of each month and for each hour of the average 24-hour cycle for the whole year. The average value for each month and the annual average are also mapped. Many of those maps are available via this website, in the form of downloadable files and, for a selection of variables, on the interactive mapping tool.

Funding

The 2014 Evapotranspiration of Hawai‘i project was conducted under an agreement between the State of Hawai‘i Commission on Water Resource Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Honolulu District under Section 22 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1974. Agreement No. W9128A-08-D-00007 was awarded to CH2M Hill, which subcontracted the Evapotranspiration of Hawai‘i portion of the project to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Department of Geography.

Ryan Longman's participation was supported by the Pacific Islands Climate Science Center and by Pacific Islands Climate Change Cooperative award F10A00079. The development of the evapotranspiration, solar, and climate websites, including their interactive map tools, was supported by National Science Foundation Hawai‘i EPSCoR grant no. EPS-0903833.

Publications

Giambelluca, T.W., X. Shuai, M.L. Barnes, R.J. Alliss, R.J. Longman, T. Miura, Q. Chen, A.G. Frazier, R.G. Mudd, L. Cuo, and A.D. Businger. 2014. Evapotranspiration of Hawai‘i. Final report submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—Honolulu District, and the Commission on Water Resource Management, State of Hawai‘i (pdf)