Sunshine recorder

A Campbell–Stokes sunshine recorder

A sunshine recorder is a device that records the amount of sunshine at a given location or region at any time. The results provide information about the weather and climate as well as the temperature of a geographical area. This information is useful in meteorology, science, agriculture, tourism, and other fields. It has also been called a heliograph.

There are two basic types of sunshine recorders. One type uses the sun itself as a time-scale for the sunshine readings. The other type uses some form of clock for the time scale.

A Jordan sunshine recorder (left). The other instrument is a Marvin sunshine recorder.

Older recorders required a human observer to interpret the results; recorded results might differ among observers. Modern sunshine recorders use electronics and computers for precise data that do not depend on a human interpreter. Newer recorders can also measure the global and diffuse radiation.[clarification needed]

External links

  • Komoka Sunrecorder Current Images
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sunshine recorders.
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Sunshine recorders
  • Campbell–Stokes recorder
  • Blake-Larsen sunshine recorder
  • Elektor sunshine recorder
  • Jordan sunshine recorder
  • Marvin sunshine recorder
  • Pers sunshine recorder
  • Sunshine sensor type BF3
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Earth-based meteorological equipment and instrumentation
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