Since yesterday, dec 9th, 2003 is the sunniest year ever recorded at the
Bilt. The old record (1959) with 1986,1 sunshine-hours at the Bilt has been
smashed. Today, dec 10th, the Bilt noted 2013,1 sun-hours. Den Helder (in
the NW of the country) is the sunniest place of the Netherlands; 2150.9 h
thusfar.
(Long term averages: for de Bilt 1523, 8 h (32% of max possible) and den
Helder 1648,8 hours, (35% of max. possible).

Of course the year had already a very sunny start; with records in February
and March, not to mention the summer that followed.

This record makes Den Helder sunnier than Venice or Remini, at least in 2003
:-).

http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/nieuws/lanimain.htm


Wijke
The Netherlands - ms 3 m asl
Sunny cavok-day again -- rather frosty, Tmin ms 6.3 C - Tmax + 2.0 C - Tc ms
1.2 C
But 1017.8 hPa, falling :-(

"Wijke" wrote
This record makes Den Helder sunnier than Venice or Remini, at least in
2003 :-).

A Radio 4 programme I heard yesterday suggested that Northern Europe might
be the preferred summer today destination for Southern Europeans (to get
away from the heat) and not the other way round as at present.

Sure, our Northern Summers might become very acceptable, but our damp, dull
winters are likely to remain unappealing. So I suppose it's quite likely
that although the holiday trek in the Summer might indeed be from south to
north, in the winter there will be increased tourism the other way round.
Not much point going all the way to the Caribbean or Florida in mid winter
is just as acceptable along the Mediterranean Coast. But whatever global
warming throws at us, it will never change the amount of daylight. The Med
will always compare unfavourable on that score in winter with the Caribbean.

Jack

Quote: " Since yesterday, dec 9th, 2003 is the sunniest year ever
recorded at the
Bilt. The old record (1959) with 1986,1 sunshine-hours at the Bilt has
been
smashed. Today, dec 10th, the Bilt noted 2013,1 sun-hours. Den Helder
(in
the NW of the country) is the sunniest place of the Netherlands; 2150.9
h
thusfar."


Wijke

.... can't read the Dutch I'm afraid, at least to pick out the answer to
my question: is this sunshine record with respect to the *same*
recording instrument?

Martin.

"Jack Harrison" wrote in message
...

"Wijke" wrote
This record makes Den Helder sunnier than Venice or Remini, at least in
2003 :-).

A Radio 4 programme I heard yesterday suggested that Northern Europe might
be the preferred summer today destination for Southern Europeans (to get
away from the heat) and not the other way round as at present.

Sure, our Northern Summers might become very acceptable, but our damp,
dull
winters are likely to remain unappealing. So I suppose it's quite likely
that although the holiday trek in the Summer might indeed be from south to
north, in the winter there will be increased tourism the other way round.

Down here in Cornwall, the holiday season has become greatly extended over
the last decade.
I have a holiday cottage in Mousehole, 10 years ago we'd be lucky to get 30
weeks let a year, for the last 3 years it's exceeded 40, and we are
certainly not alone. We were fully booked from 2nd March until end of
October.

I wouldn't put it all down to climate change though, increase interest in
surfing & titanium lined wet-suits have certainly helped!

Graham
Penzance


Holiday Cottage www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk
Penzance Weather www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/weather.html

"Martin Rowley" schreef in bericht
...

... can't read the Dutch I'm afraid, at least to pick out the answer to
my question: is this sunshine record with respect to the *same*
recording instrument?


That's a rightly marginal note, Martin. The KNMI (Dutch Met-Office) used the
Campbell-Stokes untill 1992; from that year on the institute works with the
pyranometer. And still has the Campbell-Stokes for backing-up and comparing
the data.
I have tried to find something about the formula which is used to calculate
sun-hours out of radiation; the estimation-errors etc. Unfortunately,
despite the perfect information of the KNMI-site, I haven't found an answer
yet. But will keep on searching ;-).


Wijke

Wijke wrote in message ...
:Since yesterday, dec 9th, 2003 is the sunniest year ever recorded at the
:Bilt. :http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/nieuws/lanimain.htm


Click on the above link and then on the link in brackets "(nader
verklaard)" at the end of the first item to see a map of sunshine totals in
the Netherlands so far this year.

Colin Youngs
Brussels

"Colin Youngs" schreef in bericht
...
Wijke wrote in message ...
:Since yesterday, dec 9th, 2003 is the sunniest year ever recorded at the
:Bilt. :http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/nieuws/lanimain.htm


Click on the above link and then on the link in brackets "(nader
verklaard)" at the end of the first item to see a map of sunshine totals
in
the Netherlands so far this year.

snip Thank you, Colin!! My mistake :-(( -- I didn't check the link
properly before posting -- here's the link I intended to post in the first
place:
http://www.knmi.nl/voorl/nader/zonnigetijden.htm

On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 19:43:12 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

titanium lined wet-suits have certainly helped!

What you people get up to in the SW is purely your own affair !

JPG



Graham
Penzance


Holiday Cottage www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk
Penzance Weather www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/weather.html

"Wijke" wrote in message
...

"Martin Rowley" schreef in bericht
...

... can't read the Dutch I'm afraid, at least to pick out the answer
to
my question: is this sunshine record with respect to the *same*
recording instrument?


That's a rightly marginal note, Martin. The KNMI (Dutch Met-Office)
used the
Campbell-Stokes untill 1992; from that year on the institute works
with the
pyranometer. And still has the Campbell-Stokes for backing-up and
comparing
the data.
I have tried to find something about the formula which is used to
calculate
sun-hours out of radiation; the estimation-errors etc. Unfortunately,
despite the perfect information of the KNMI-site, I haven't found an
answer
yet. But will keep on searching ;-).


.... many thanks for that: would be interesting to find out how they
relate the CS to modern records - I know the Met Office are (have)
undertaken the same comparison. Using the standard WMO definition for
'bright sunshine' ( direct irradiance 120 W/m^2), it's study suggests
an rough 10% *reduction* (for the units used by the UKMO) wrt
Cambell-Stokes. I think most would agree that the C-S always did tend
(either through it's design or through difficulty of estimating
intermittent sunshine), to *over-estimate* sunshine amounts. This would
make the De Bilt record set this year even more remarkable, and in any
case, it confirms what we over this side of the North Sea have been
experiencing - a remarkable year for sunshine.

If you can get hold of it, it would be interesting to see what the C-S
figures are for this year, against the pyranometer, and also which
marque of the latter is being used.

Martin.

Martin.

"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
...


... many thanks for that: would be interesting to find out how they
relate the CS to modern records - I know the Met Office are (have)
undertaken the same comparison. Using the standard WMO definition for
'bright sunshine' ( direct irradiance 120 W/m^2), it's study suggests
an rough 10% *reduction* (for the units used by the UKMO) wrt
Cambell-Stokes. I think most would agree that the C-S always did tend
(either through it's design or through difficulty of estimating
intermittent sunshine), to *over-estimate* sunshine amounts. This would
make the De Bilt record set this year even more remarkable, and in any
case, it confirms what we over this side of the North Sea have been
experiencing - a remarkable year for sunshine.

You are quite right to talk about a "rough" 10% reduction. The trouble
is that there is no way of emulating the CS recorder when you only have
a KZ (or whichever other) sensor. I'm not sure, having decided to
change the sunshine recording standard, why one would want to
emulate the CS instrument, but the Met Office certainly looked at
it seriously.

I've written elsewhere (often!) that the differences between the two
methods of measuring sunshine are not systematic, because the big flaw
of the CS recorder is its substantial over-recording when sunshine
is intermittent (there are other flaws, too, notably the requirement
for human interpretation of the trace on the sunshine card, and also
its inefficiency at recording sunshine early and late in the day). Thus,
on a day of intermittent sunshine a CS may record 50% more than
a KZ* sensor, whereas on a day of unbroken sunshine it may well
record up to 10% less. In a sunny month when a large proportion
of the sunshine comes on days of unbroken (or nearly so) sunshine,
such as March this year, it is clearly inappropriate to add 10% to
the KZ record to provide some sort of homogeneity at a long-
standing site. The same is true, to a lesser extent, over a year.

So to add 10% to the 2003 KZ sunshine records to make
comparisons with earlier years would, it could be argued, over-
estimate the duration of sunshine this year. In other words, it makes
it easier to break records. In a cloudy year, 10% would not be
enough, so it would be easier to break the "dull" records as well.

One can reasonably argue that this should be sufficient reason not
to try to homogenise to the two sorts of sunshine records, but there
will, of course, always be pressure to do so. My solution is that
the Met Office should encourage certain manned sites (say, a
dozen, at the very least) to maintain a CS recorder to provide
some sort of continuity for as long as it is possible so to do. It is
hardly an onerous task.

* KZ = The Kipp and Zonen sensor is the Met Office's preferred
new instrument.

Philip Eden