www.DLR.

de Chart 1 > Diana Mancera> March 06 2014

Estimation of occurrence and vertical distribution

of aerosols in the lower boundary layer for solar
energy applications: comparison of satellite and
modelling approaches

Lars Klser, Marion Schroedter-Homscheidt, Diana Mancera*

German Aerospace Center

DFD-AT-Aerosol and Radiation

March 06 2014
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Contents

I. The Question
II. Preliminary Results
III. Ongoing and future steps
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CSP technologies. LFC Linear Fresnel Collector. PTC Parabolic Through Collector.
DC Dish collector. Tower plant
Solar tower technology
I. The Question
AssessmentEnergy yield and siting
- Long path (light) ! Extinction!
[Hanrieder et.al, 2012]: 1km path (hazy day)
! 25% attenuation
.QUESTIONS ARISE.
- How much does the receiver actually get?
- What does it mean in terms of energy yield?
- How does it impact technology selection?
How is the aerosol contribution in the relevant altitude of a
solar tower plant (~300)?
How much aerosol variation is there from place to place?
(global mapping)
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I. The Question
AssessmentEnergy yield and siting

What is currently used?

! Raytracing software based on models Assumptions:
Standard atmospheric/ limited scenarios
Exponentially decrease of aerosol density
with z: true for every place?
Sometimes: specific inputs but parameters
not available from campaigns.

How can we improve the evaluation?

! Describing the height resolved aerosol profiles

Ivanpha CSP plant USA. Starterd up December 31th 2013. Partially in operation
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I. The Question
Measurements & Estimations
Current Approaches
GROUND: LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging-LASER
+Telescope lens)
+allows vertical profiling
-incomplete overlap in the proximity of the device
?long term data

AIRBORNE: nadir-viewing LIDAR /sampling-based instruments

+no overlap
-geographically restricted
-expensive
?long term data
-Aerosols?

SATELLITE: nadir-viewing LIDAR

+no overlap
+nearly global coverage
-no real time for operational purposes
?uncertainties
?long term data

NUMERICAL MODELS:
+time flexibility: backwards-long term data(site assessment) real
time and forwards(forecasting capability)
-computing demanding
-high accuracy at reproducing processed required

LIDAR Incomplete overlap function. Source: Navas-Guzmn et. at 2011

it
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II. Preliminary results

Satellite - CALIPSO
- Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite
Observations

- LASER pulses at 532nm and 1064nm: interaction with

several kind of particles.

- Usage of level 2 Aerosol Profile products

- Vertical resolution: 60m (from -0,5km to 8,2km altitude)

- Horizontal resolution: 333m

- Repeat Orbital Cycle: 16 days

- Data available from 2006.

- Biases due to differences in S/N ratio (better sensitivity at

night). Different thresholds!possible
understimation(daytime)

- Uncertainties because of technical constraints and

assumptions in algorithms
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II. Preliminary results

Satellite - CALIPSO

AOD because
of total layer

High

Low

Contribution of
Low High aerosol in the lowest
150m
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II. Preliminary results
Satellite - CALIPSO

Valid points are different day/night-

time.Possible reasons:

1. Cloud fraction is higher during day mostly

over land [Chepfer et.al.,2010]. Expected
effect: !
Cloud Fraction data. From [Chepfer et.al.2010]: The GCM-oriented CALIPSO Cloud Product

2. Signal-noise ratio lower during day.

Especially over land because of albedo.
Expected effect: !++

Reflectivity values of various surfaces. From Oke 1992, Ahrens 2006.

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II. Preliminary results

Presumtive aerosol dominance

Long term (between 1980 and 1992) dust sources identified with the

help of TOMS AI [Engelstaedter et al., 2006].

CALIPSO preliminar results

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III. Ongoing and future steps

Comparison with models - Regional

COSMO-MUSCAT

- TROPOS model
- Regional scale model
- Modeling System. Coupling of:
COSMO (meteorological model)
MUSCAT (Chemistry Transport Model)
Tegen 2002 (Dust emission scheme)
- Vertical coordinate system: hybrid sigma-height 40
layers (up to 18km)
- Horizontal resolution: 28km
- Time intervals: 3 to 6 hours.
- Aerosols included: purely dust
REACCESS report of world wide CSP potential:
- Timeframe simulations:2007-2008
Suitable land + Highest direct normal irradiation
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III. Ongoing and future steps

Comparison with models - Global

- ECMWF model
- Global scale model
- Coupled system IFS - MOZART:
- Different vertical level definitions. Most of products: 60
levels (up to ~44km). 6 values below 300m.
- Horizontal resolution ~125km
- Time intervals: 3 hours.
- Tropospheric aerosols included:
Sea salt (bin limits: 0.03m-0,5m, 0,5m-5m,
5m-20m)
Desert dust(bin limits: 0.03m-0,55m,
0,55m-0.9m, 0.9m-20m)
Organic matter (hydrophobic and hydrophilic) Example of MACC forecast of AOD 550nm
Black carbon (hydrophobic and hydrophilic)
Sulphate aerosols
- Timeframe for climatology: 2003-2012
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VII. Possible cooperations

DLR Almeria, Spain

-Visibility

-Aerosol concentration FORMULA Raytracing

Attenuation
-Humidity
(Hanrieder) tool

- One year solar plant simulation (standard conditions vs. specific inputs)
- Validation: Ground based measurements Satellite/model
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Dankeschn!
Ihre Fragen
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Appendix A. LIVAS project web console

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Appendix B. Preliminary results

2007 Daytime
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Appendix B. Preliminary results

2008 Daytime
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Appendix B. Preliminary results

2007 Night-time
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Appendix B. Preliminary results

2008 Night-time