TREND AND VARIABILITY OF SUNSHINE DURATION OVER SAUDI ARABIA USING THE EUMETSAT SATELLITE APPLICATION

Abstract

Information on sunshine duration variations and the availability of solar energy is vital for atmospheric and climate change analysis. Based on the analysis of data from 1983 to 2022 the monthly mean sunshine duration in Saudi Arabia was 283±18 hours. Generally, the COV test showed that sunshine duration varies by about two percent annually in Saudi Arabia, but about three percent in the Al Bahah region. According to the MK/MMK test results, there has been an increase in the availability of SDU in Saudi Arabia between 1983 and 2022. Some regions, such as Riyadh and the southwest part, do not show statistically significant increases. According to Sen’s slope test, the southwest and northern parts of the country experienced an increase of 0.7-0.8 and 0.5- 0.6 hours per year (h/yr) in sunshine duration during the spring. In the summer season, there was a download trend of SDU in most parts of the country, with a range of -0.49- 0.0 h/yr. A statistically significant trend is observed in 34 out of 65 case scenarios according to the MK/MMK trend test. In contrast, statistically significant trends were found in about 97 percent (63 out of 65) of cases from the ITA method.