Does Africa Get More Sun than Other Continents? (people, cons, beautiful)
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I just read an article on the UN's websites about plans to build solar power stations in many areas across the continent. The article stated that such plans could succeed because of the abundant sun in Africa.
The article made me wonder if there is more sun in Africa, on average, than other continents? In other words, does it get the most sun?
I reasonably think that Africa is globally a very sunny continent, having extended portions of its land mass within the subtropical and tropical belts where subsidence prevails.
According to the 13 years of average cloud cover done in a full world map by NASA, Africa is the sunniest continent on the planet, along with Australia.
This is an interesting note to show that clear skies are common throughout Africa, even beyond the Sahara, which stands up as the most cloud-free large region on Earth.
The only cloudy parts of the continent are definitely the lush equatorial areas covered by rainforests including countries such as Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, for example, where the great cloudiness considerably reduces the annual sunshine duration.
So yes, not only Africa receives many more hours of bright sunshine than any large continent in the world, but the intensity of solar radiation is also very high due to the low latitude.
Both factors combined make Africa a very suitable place to install solar power stations, virtually anywhere.
Last edited by Special_Finder; 12-11-2015 at 01:35 PM..
The sun in Africa is stronger, it hits Earth at the equator more directly...so, I'm not sure what you mean by more sun, it is more like "more immediate sun".
IF we measure it by temperature, most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa receive little to no snow and temperature never drops below 70's or high 60's. Unlike hot cities like Houston, Dallas and Phoenix although temps can get ridiculously high, they can also get ridiculously cold. This of course may have nothing to do with the amount of sunlight but Africa is kind of a triple whammy, with the Equator then a Northern Desert, then a much smaller Southern Desert(s). Also multiple regions similar to the Sahel.
The sun in Africa is stronger, it hits Earth at the equator more directly...so, I'm not sure what you mean by more sun, it is more like "more immediate sun".
More sun means a higher number of sunshine hours/a higher sunshine duration.
IF we measure it by temperature, most parts of Sub-Saharan Africa receive little to no snow and temperature never drops below 70's or high 60's. Unlike hot cities like Houston, Dallas and Phoenix although temps can get ridiculously high, they can also get ridiculously cold.
Sub-Saharan Africa absolutely never gets any snow, except at extremely high elevations, and even then... As well, it's never cold over there. It can get way colder in Phoenix, Arizona than Accra, Ghana, for instance. The only "cold" you can feel in Africa is in the Mediterranean climates (winter), the extratropical desert climates (winter nights) and probably in the Ethiopian Highlands.
Last edited by Special_Finder; 12-12-2015 at 01:50 AM..
Thanks for expanding on my post, for example the first time I saw snow was when I lived in The Netherlands. Before that the coldest temps I felt in Nigeria was 65 degrees maybe and that was when cold rain(Every time it rains it is comparable to a small tropical storm, I didn't know what a drizzle was until I left Nigeria) came down.
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