Daily satellite-based sunshine duration estimates over Brazil: validation and intercomparison

The broad geographical coverage and high temporal and spatial resolution of geostationary satellite data provide an excellent opportunity to collect information on variables whose spatial distribution and temporal variability are not adequately represented by in situ networks. This study focuses on assessing the effectiveness of two geostationary satellite-based sunshine duration (SDU) datasets over Brazil, given the relevance of SDU to various fields, such as agriculture and the energy sector, to ensure reliable SDU data over the country. The analyzed datasets are the operational products provided by the Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CMSAF) that uses data achieved with the Meteorological Satellite (Meteosat) series and by the Satellite and Meteorological Sensors Division of the National Institute for Space Research (DISSM–INPE) that employs Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data. The analyzed period ranges from September 2013 to December 2017. The mean bias error (MBE), mean absolute error (MAE), root mean squared error (RMSE), correlation coefficient (r), and scatterplots between satellite products and in situ daily SDU measurements provided by the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET) were used to access the performance of the products. They were calculated on a monthly basis and grouped into climate regions. The statistical parameters exhibited a uniform spatial distribution, indicating homogeneity within a given region. Except for the tropical northeast oriental (TNO) region, there were no significant seasonal dependencies observed. The MBE values for both satellite products were generally low across most regions in Brazil, mainly between 0 and 1 h. The correlation coefficient (r) results indicated a strong agreement between the estimated values and the observed data, with an overall r value exceeding 0.8. Nevertheless, there were notable discrepancies in specific areas. The CMSAF product showed a tendency to overestimate observations in the TNO region, with the MBE consistently exceeding 1 h for all months, while the DISSM product exhibited a negative gradient of the MBE values in the west–east direction in the northern portion of Brazil. The scatterplots for the TNO region revealed that the underestimation pattern observed in the DISSM product was influenced by the sky condition, with more accurate estimations observed under cloudy skies. Additional analysis suggested that the biases observed might be attributed to the misrepresentation of clear-sky reflectance. In the case of the CMSAF product, the overestimation tendency observed in the TNO region appeared to be a result of systematic underestimation of the effective cloud albedo. The findings indicated that both satellite-based SDU products generally exhibited good agreement with the ground observations across Brazil, although their performance varied across different regions and seasons. The analyzed operational satellite products present a reliable source of data to several applications, which is an asset due to its high spatial resolution and low time latency.