pvlib.iotools.read_surfrad#

pvlib.iotools.read_surfrad(filename, map_variables=True)[source]#

Read in a daily NOAA SURFRAD file. The SURFRAD network is described in [1].

Parameters:

filename (str) – Filepath or URL. URL can be either FTP or HTTP.
map_variables (bool) – When true, renames columns of the Dataframe to pvlib variable names where applicable. See variable VARIABLE_MAP.

Returns:

Tuple of the form (data, metadata).
data (Dataframe) – Dataframe with the fields found below.
metadata (dict) – Site metadata included in the file.

Notes

Metadata dictionary includes the following fields:

Key	Format	Description
station	String	site name
latitude	Float	site latitude
longitude	Float	site longitude
elevation	Int	site elevation
surfrad_version	Int	surfrad version
tz	String	Timezone (UTC)

Dataframe includes the following fields:

raw, mapped	Format	Description
Mapped field names are returned when the map_variables argument is True
year	int	year as 4 digit int
jday	int	day of year 1-365(or 366)
month	int	month (1-12)
day	int	day of month(1-31)
hour	int	hour (0-23)
minute	int	minute (0-59)
dt	float	decimal time i.e. 23.5 = 2330
zen, solar_zenith	float	solar zenith angle (deg)
Fields below have associated qc flags labeled <field>_flag.
dw_solar, ghi	float	downwelling global solar(W/m^2)
uw_solar	float	updownwelling global solar(W/m^2)
direct_n, dni	float	direct normal solar (W/m^2)
diffuse, dhi	float	downwelling diffuse solar (W/m^2)
dw_ir	float	downwelling thermal infrared (W/m^2)
dw_casetemp	float	downwelling IR case temp (K)
dw_dometemp	float	downwelling IR dome temp (K)
uw_ir	float	upwelling thermal infrared (W/m^2)
uw_casetemp	float	upwelling IR case temp (K)
uw_dometemp	float	upwelling IR case temp (K)
uvb	float	global uvb (miliWatts/m^2)
par	float	photosynthetically active radiation(W/m^2)
netsolar	float	net solar (dw_solar - uw_solar) (W/m^2)
netir	float	net infrared (dw_ir - uw_ir) (W/m^2)
totalnet	float	net radiation (netsolar+netir) (W/m^2)
temp, temp_air	float	10-meter air temperature (?C)
rh, relative_humidity	float	relative humidity (%)
windspd, wind_speed	float	wind speed (m/s)
winddir, wind_direction	float	wind direction (deg, clockwise from north)
pressure	float	station pressure (mb)

See README files located in the station directories in the SURFRAD data archives [2] for details on SURFRAD daily data files. In addition to the FTP server, the SURFRAD files are also available via HTTP access [3].

References