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Researchers can measure the intensity of sunlight using a sunshine recorder, pyranometer, or pyrheliometer.To calculate the amount of sunlight reaching the ground, both the eccentricity of Earth's elliptic orbit and the attenuation by Earth's atmosphere have to be taken into account.
Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m 2 ) in SI units .
Since the surface area of a sphere of radius r is A = 4πr 2, the intensity I (power per unit area) of radiation at distance r is = =. The energy or intensity decreases (divided by 4) as the distance r is doubled; if measured in dB would decrease by 6.02 dB per doubling of distance. When referring to measurements of power quantities, a ratio ...
This is sometimes also confusingly called "intensity". Spectral radiosity: J e,ν [nb 3] watt per square metre per hertz W⋅m −2 ⋅Hz −1: M⋅T −2: Radiosity of a surface per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅m −2 ⋅nm −1. This is sometimes also confusingly called "spectral intensity". J e,λ [nb 4]
This is sometimes also called "radiant power", and called luminosity in astronomy. Spectral flux: Φ e,ν [nb 3] watt per hertz: W/Hz: M⋅L 2 ⋅T −2: Radiant flux per unit frequency or wavelength. The latter is commonly measured in W⋅nm −1. Φ e,λ [nb 4] watt per metre W/m M⋅L⋅T −3: Radiant intensity: I e,Ω [nb 5] watt per ...
A foot-candle (sometimes foot candle; abbreviated fc, lm/ft 2, or sometimes ft-c) is a non-SI unit of illuminance or light intensity. The foot-candle is defined as one lumen per square foot. This unit is commonly used in lighting layouts in parts of the world where United States customary units are used, mainly the United States. [ 1 ]
The angular diameter of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/11,700 radians (about 18 arcseconds), meaning the solid angle of the Earth as seen from the Sun is approximately 1/175,000,000 of a steradian. Thus the Sun emits about 2.2 billion times the amount of radiation that is caught by Earth, in other words about 3.846×10 26 watts.
Sunlight on the surface of Earth is attenuated by Earth's atmosphere, so that less power arrives at the surface (closer to 1,000 W/m 2) in clear conditions when the Sun is near the zenith. [100] Sunlight at the top of Earth's atmosphere is composed (by total energy) of about 50% infrared light, 40% visible light, and 10% ultraviolet light. [101]