Heliosat Project

The Heliosat method converts images acquired by meteorological geostationary satellites, such as Meteosat (Europe), GOES (USA) or GMS (Japan), into data and maps of solar radiation received at ground level.

There are presently two main versions of Heliosat: Heliosat-1 and Heliosat-2 (since November 2002).

Complete software and documentation are available for Heliosat-2. The method Heliosat-2 was developed by Armines / Ecole des Mines de Paris in 2000-2001, partly with the support of the European Commission (project SoDa, contract DG "INFSO" IST-1999-12245).

The method Heliosat-4 is being developed. It will apply on data produced by the new series of sensors aboard Meteosat Second Generation satellites. Some pieces of software are available for the geographical coordinates of a MSG pixel.

Publications
Example
Radiation Databases HelioClim
Software

Example

In the following example, the processed image is dated 1rst August 1992, 11h30. The method Heliosat-2 is applied. Click on images to enlarge.

Raw Meteosat data	Derived cloud index (clearness index)	Derived hourly radiation

 

Software
Libraries in C are available for the implementation of the method Heliosat-2. Other pieces of software are available relating to Sun-Earth geometry, solar angles, extraterrestrial radiation or satellite Meteosat and are found in the item "Softwares".