chillR (version 0.72.2)

daylength: Compute sunrise and sunset times, and daylength

Description

This function computes sunrise time, sunset time and daylength for a particular location and day of the year (Julian day). This is done using equations by Spencer (1971) and Almorox et al. (2005).

Usage

daylength(latitude, JDay, notimes.as.na = FALSE)

Arguments

latitude

numeric value specifying the geographic latitude (in decimal degrees) of the location of interest

JDay

numeric (usually integer) value or vector specifying the Julian day (day of the year), for which calculations should be done.

notimes.as.na

parameter to determine whether for days without sunrise or sunset, na should be returned for Sunset and Sunrise. If left at FALSE (the default), the function returns -99 and 99 for sunrise and sunset or polar nights and polar days, respectively.

Value

list with three elements Sunrise, Sunset and Daylength. For days without sunrise (polar nights), sunset and sunrise become -99 and the daylength 0. For days without sunset, sunset and sunrise are 99 and daylength 24.

References

Spencer JW, 1971. Fourier series representation of the position of the Sun. Search 2(5), 172.

Almorox J, Hontoria C and Benito M, 2005. Statistical validation of daylength definitions for estimation of global solar radiation in Toledo, Spain. Energy Conversion and Management 46(9-10), 1465-1471)

Examples

# NOT RUN {
daylength(latitude=50,JDay=40)
plot(daylength(latitude=35,JDay=1:365)$Daylength)


# }