Weather consequences of the solar eclipse of March 20, 2015

2015-03-20 (IPMA)

During the solar eclipse that occurred today, March 20, 2015, a decrease of global radiation was measured in some stations in Portugal, in the period between 8 and 9 am, local time. Figure 1 shows an attenuation of solar radiation measured at the weather station Lisboa/Gago Coutinho between 08:30 and 09:00. This attenuation occurred at a time of day when radiation usually increases and on a cloudy day, and there were no significant changes in the evolution of temperature.

The difference in brightness between the 19 and March 20 at 09:00 am caused by the eclipse is illustrated in Figure 2. This figure shows two satellite images that result from the combination of high resolution visible channel (HRV) and infrared 10.8 μ channel from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite.

In Animation 1 a sequence of combined images using 0.6 μ, 0.8 μ and 1.6μ channels also from MSG satellite, between 07:00 and 12:00 local time shows the evolution of the shadow caused by the eclipse in the North Atlantic, North Africa and Western Europe.

More details about this solar eclipse can be found on the page of Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon http://oal.ul.pt/.

• Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon

• Figure 1 - Global solar radiation in the Lisboa Gago/Coutinho weather station.

• Figure 2 – Images resulting from the combination of high resolution visible (HRV) and infrared 10.8 μ channels from MSG satellite - 19 and 20 March 2015.

• Animation 1 – Animation of images resulting from the combination of 0.6 μ, 0.8 μ and 1.6μ channels from MSG satellite.

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