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Rainfall and sunshine are two totally different things. We can go weeks without sunshine or rain/snow in the winter.
I agree but rainfall shortage in deserts is nearly always linked with a clear sky, and thus a great duration of bright sunshine. The only exceptions are coastal deserts where frequent low clouds and fog considerably reduce the amount of sunshine.
Dampier is the sunniest place in Australia but it definitely doesn't rival the constant year-round luminosity of the Sahara and Atacama. Aswan roughly has the same number of sunny days during its least sunny month of the year as during the sunniest month in Dampier! Here is the Sunshine Chart for Dampier :
Last edited by Special_Finder; 12-18-2015 at 12:52 PM..
Dampier is the sunniest place in Australia but it definitely doesn't rival the constant year-round luminosity of the Sahara and Atacama. Aswan roughly has the same number of sunny days during its least sunny month of the year as during the sunniest month in Dampier! Here is the Sunshine Chart for Dampier :
I just wanted to provide an example outside of the usual suspects like the Sahara and the Atacama.
I just wanted to provide an example outside of the usual suspects like the Sahara and the Atacama.
Yeah, I understand that guy!
However, the Sahara and the Atacama are unbeatable when speaking about dryness and sunshine! Both deserts have some of the most extreme climates on the planet!
Lodwar, Kenya also shows very little monthly variation in daily sunshine hours. The least sunny month is April with a daily average of 8.6 h, making a total of roughly 260 h in the month. However, the daily average stays around 10 h for the rest of the year, and the annual sunshine duration is close to 3,600 h.
Off-topic :
This is a desert climate found at a latitude of 3°N, so virtually along the equator. This is one of the most equatorial arid place I know so far, and Lodwar suffer from a really pronounced rainfall deficiency for this latitude as the town hardly receives 194 mm of precipitation yearly but with a great interannual variability, and the number of rainy days over there is just 18 rainy days a year.
Three words to summarize the climate : hot, sunny, dry.
Here is a global map of solar energy reaching the surface from a Kallberg et al 2005 paper using ECMWF 40-year reanalysis data. From this, it appears the sunniest place on the planet is just off the coast of Peru and Chile.
Here is a global map of solar energy reaching the surface from a Kallberg et al 2005 paper using ECMWF 40-year reanalysis data. From this, it appears the sunniest place on the planet is just off the coast of Peru and Chile.
According to that map, the Sahara is less sunny than the Mediterranean, Korea, parts of NZ, Victoria and NSW.
I don't think that this map determines sunshine hours. But perhaps maybe sunshine intensity.
This is true. This map measures how much solar energy reaches the surface, not how many hours of the year it is cloud-free.
While the Sahara is not necessarily rainy, a good chunk of the solar radiation is blocked/absorbed by dust aerosols. The regions you mention have, on average, have better visibility. (source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ical_depth.png)
This is true. This map measures how much solar energy reaches the surface, not how many hours of the year it is cloud-free.
While the Sahara is not necessarily rainy, a good chunk of the solar radiation is blocked/absorbed by dust aerosols. The regions you mention have, on average, have better visibility. (source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ical_depth.png)
All subtropical deserts are mainly dusty. The Sahara isn't an exception, the Arabian Peninsula often experiences dust-laden winds and reduced visibility, too, just like much of the Desert Southwest in the U.S, though, these phenomenons are less common.
However, they are very sunny places because of the low cloud cover. When I'm saying the Sahara is the sunniest region in the world year-round, I'm not lying. Considering the fact that the annual mean cloud amount often drops below one tenth of the sky area over there, this isn't surprising! All weather/climate data I have goes in this way!
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Here is the Sunshine Chart for Dampier :
