Sunshine Recorder

Sunshine recorders automatically registering time and duration of insulation are used at meteorological and climatologically research centers, observatories, spas and health resorts, in agriculture, horticulture, viticulture and vegetable gardening. The instruments are set up on flat roofs or on clear ground in such manner as to be well exposed to solar radiation, during the whole day. The type of instrument to be chosen depends on the latitude of the place installation. This recorder consists essentially of a glass sphere mounted concentrically in a section of a spherical metal bowl, the diameter of which is such that the sun stays are focused sharply on a card held in the grooves, in the bowl. Three overlapping pairs of grooves are provided in the bowl to taken up cards suitable for the different seasons of the year.

A sunshine recorder is a device that records the amount of sunshine at a given location or region at any time. The results provide information about the weather and climate as well as the temperature of a geographical area. This information is useful in meteorology, science, agriculture, tourism, and other fields. It has also been called a heliograph.

There are two basic types of sunshine recorders. One type uses the Sun itself as a time-scale for the sunshine readings. The other type uses some form of clock for the time scale.

Older recorders required a human observer to interpret the results; recorded results might differ among observers. Modern sunshine recorders use electronics and computers for precise data that do not depend on a human interpreter. Newer recorders can also measure the global and diffuse radiation.