Heres information that we frequently send to our new users about options for

accessing
solar radiation and meteorology data.
NASA has 3 websites that offer meteorology and solar energy parameters:
SSE - provides data averaged over 10 to 22 years (Jan, 1984 - Dec, 2005)
https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/project/sse/sse_table
POWER - (Prediction Of Worldwide Energy Resource) provides data from
1984 through
near real time (< 10 days ago for radiation; < 5 days ago for temperature,
etc.) http://power.larc.nasa.gov .
MY NASA DATA - This interface has the SSE data and allows easy plotting of
most of the SSE (and other) parameters. Use the Advanced option of their
Live Access Server (LAS) to view SSE data. http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/
The data obtained from NASA's SSE, POWER, and MY NASA DATA websites are
public domain and
free of charge. You may use them in your research, publications, and commercial
applications.

Example of obtaining the modeled solar energy values from the SSE site:
1. Go to the SSE web site (https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/project/sse/sse_table)
and select one of the subset options: Single Location , Regional Location ,
Interannual Variability , Global Data ,
Daily Data , RETScreen International , or HOMER .
2. If you select Single Location, you will be linked to the SSE Data For A
Single Location page.
3. Click on the Order Data button. This will take you to a page where you
can enter the latitude and longitude coordinates for your location in decimal
format. Click Submit.
Here's link to a degree to a decimal converter website:
http://transition.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html
3. Choose the parameters of interest and click Submit.
4. The resulting page will contain monthly averages for each of the selected
parameters.
Accessing data from the POWER web site is similar to the steps used for
the SSE site. http://power.larc.nasa.gov
Select the Near Real-Time Global Radiation and Meteorology: option
under

Sustainable Buildings. This option gives you data for a lat, long point.
Select the Agroclimatology option. This gives you data for a lat, long point
or for a region.
Selecting Sustainable Buildings directly gives you a few more data options:
Higher Resolution Daily Time Series by Location
DOE/ASHRAE Building Climate Parameters
Near Real-time Daily Global Radiation and Meteorology
Monthly averages for the indicated climatological period
Psychrometric Charts
Three-hourly pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed
Interannual Variability
Pickup Special Global Data Sets

Using MY NASA DATA to view SSE data (Monthly and Annual):

1. Go to the Data Access section of the MY NASA DATA website:
http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/data.html . Select Live Access Server
(Advanced Mode)
http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov/las/getUI.do
2. Under Choose Dataset, select Surface Meteorology and Solar
Energy.
You can select your data parameters there.
This is a great interface. It allows you to: "instantly" plot the data, modify
plot options, send the results to Google Earth, show the data values,
export data as ASCII, etc.
We hope you find this information useful.
If you have any questions please contact us at ASDC User and Data Services:
support-asdc@earthdata.nasa.gov .
Best Regards,
Mary Jane Saddington
NASA Langley ASDC User Services
Preserving, managing, and sharing atmospheric data for the common good