Solar radiation maps for Iraq

Abstract As measured solar radiation data for all parts of Iraq is not available, it has to be estimated using other weather variables. A number of correlations which use dry bulb temperature, relative humidity and sunshine duration were tried. Finally a correlation using sunshine duration was selected as it gave most accurate estimation of solar radiation. Constants for the correlation for three stations representing three climatic regions in Iraq were determined. Monthly and yearly solar radiation maps were drawn using sunshine duration data from 24 stations from all over the country.