TITLE:
Regional and Monthly Assessment of Possible Sunshine Duration in Pakistan: A Geographical Approach
AUTHORS:
Romana Ambreen, Iftikhar Ahmad, Xinfa Qiu, Menjei Li
KEYWORDS:
Pakistan, Possible Sunshine Duration, Monthly, GIS, Landforms Impact
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.7 No.1,
February
25,
2015
ABSTRACT: The monthly possible
sunshine hours have been simulated separately for all the months of the year
with the help of ArcGIS. The results are evident that the geography of the area
plays a pivotal role in giving shape to spatial distribution of monthly
possible sunshine duration (PSD). The landforms distributions and latitudinal
extent are the major geographical factors behind the spatial-temporal
distribution of monthly PSD. Maps of all the months depict different sunshine
hours that vary from region to region in Pakistan. The maximum difference in
PSD was noticed between lofty mountains in the north and Indus Plains. In
addition, the variation is phenomenal from January to August and vice versa.
This sort of study based on spatial modeling is significant in Pakistan where
we lack appropriate ground observed data of PSD.