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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.

Sec. Environmental Informatics and Remote Sensing

Statistical models for mapping solar irradiation across southern Thailand using meteorological and satellite data

Provisionally accepted
Rusmadee SaboodinRusmadee Saboodin1Thammarat PanityakulThammarat Panityakul2*Anan KhampeeraAnan Khampeera3Sukrit KirtsaengSukrit Kirtsaeng4Orawit ThinnukoolOrawit Thinnukool5*
  • 1Prince of Songkla University Faculty of Science, Hat Yai, Thailand
  • 2Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand
  • 3Faculty of Environmental Management, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand
  • 4Thai Meteorological Department, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, bangkok, Thailand
  • 5Chiang Mai University, College of Arts, Media, and Technology, Chiang Mai, Thailand

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ABSTRACT: A statistical model is developed to calculate the monthly average daily solar irradiation on the ground by considering cloud fraction and temperature. Cloud fraction data were gathered from 29 meteorological stations throughout southern Thailand and from the Aura satellite. Average temperature values were collected from the FLDAS model, through the utilization of interpolation techniques. In addition, solar irradiation data from ground-based pyranometers was collected for 2014 to 2023 from the Songkhla meteorological center to serve as the basis for the modeling (R2= 0.70–0.84). The data from the developed model and the measured data were in good agreement, with a Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD) score of 6.84%–9.37% (Mean Absolute Percent Error, RMSE-observations of the Standard Deviation Ratio, Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency, and Peak Irradiance to Noise scores were also very good). Solar irradiation estimated from data acquired by the GLDAS model was in reasonable agreement with the model estimate, with RMSD score of 20.93%. The model was utilized to generate solar irradiation maps for southern Thailand, using kriging, IDW, Spline, Trend, KIB, DIW, LPI, and RBF estimation techniques. The map, which was similar to maps derived from a more complex model, showed that solar irradiation in the region is mainly influenced by mountains, and the southeast and northwest monsoons, which cause dense cloud cover.

Keywords: solar irradiation, Cloud fraction, Meteorological, Model, AURA satellite

Received: 05 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Saboodin, Panityakul, Khampeera, Kirtsaeng and Thinnukool. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Thammarat Panityakul, thammarat.t@psu.ac.th
Orawit Thinnukool, orawit.t@cmu.ac.th

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material