The Saudi Arabian's Sky II The Turbidity Post the Second Gulf War

摘要

We present in this paper our second study in a series dealing with the sky of Saudi Arabia. The atmospheric turbidity has been calculated and averaged for eleven stations around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This was achieved by the use of more accurate solar radiation data. The overall turbidity was 0.344+-0.07. The minimum value of turbidity was in Madinah (0.251+-0.050) while the maximum was in Gizan (0.491+-0.136). With individual maximum and minimum values the turbidity has no significant seasonal trend. In comparison with the pre-war calculated turbidity values (Al-Mostafa and Maghrabi, 2001) there were no significant differences for some stations in this study. The free-aerosols, direct solar radiation and corresponding atmospheric airmass have been found for each station. The maximum value of free-aerosols was in Jouf (49.67 MJ/m~2) and the minimum was in Jeddah (25.36 MJ/m~2). On the other hand, the minimum value of airmass was in Jeddah (0.63+-0.38) and the maximum value was in Jouf (2.63+-0.39). The values of the turbidity indicate that Saudi sky has relatively small turbulence in the atmosphere. Also, this study will give us a further knowledge about the Saudi Arabian Sky, which will help astronomical site selections as well as benefit future solar energy studies and applications.