☁️
CBE Clima Tool
  • CBE Clima Tool
  • Documentation
    • Overview
    • Weather file repositories
    • Tabs Explained
      • Select Weather File
      • Climate Summary
        • Degree Days Explained
        • Climate Profiles Explained
        • Clima Dataframe
      • Temperature and Humidity
        • Temperatures explained
        • Relative humidity explained
      • Sun and Clouds
        • How to read a cartesian sun path diagram
        • How to read a spherical sun path diagram
        • Global and Diffuse Horizontal Solar Radiation
          • Global, Diffuse and Normal solar radiation explained
        • Cloud coverage
        • Customizable daily and hourly maps
      • Wind
        • How to read a Wind Rose
      • Psychrometric Chart
        • How to read a Psychrometric Chart
      • Natural Ventilation Potential
      • Outdoor Comfort
        • UTCI explained
      • Data Explorer
      • Charts Tips and tricks
  • Contributing
    • Run project locally
    • How to contribute
    • Code of Conducts
  • Version
    • Info
    • Changelog
Powered by GitBook
On this page

Was this helpful?

Export as PDF
  1. Documentation
  2. Tabs Explained
  3. Sun and Clouds

How to read a spherical sun path diagram

PreviousHow to read a cartesian sun path diagramNextGlobal and Diffuse Horizontal Solar Radiation

Last updated 2 years ago

Was this helpful?

The spherical sun path is comprised of various graphical elements overlayed on one another.

We'll attempt to describe them individually below.

The sunpath can be read as a compass, with the radial lines indicating the different directions.

The concentric circles can be understood as sections of the immaginary sky dome. Each ring represents an increment of 10 degreees from the horizon. As such, they help visualize the solar altitude for each sun position.

The daily path of the sun on a given day can be traced by following a sun path spline from the east (sunrise) to the west (sunset).

The upper spline represents the sun's path during the summer solstice, i.e. the maximum height of the sun above the horizon for the examined location. Meanwhile, the lower spline is the sun’s path during the winter solstice, when the sun reaches the lowest height above the horizon. The spline in the middle is the sun's path during the Equinoxes.

Overlapping photos taken at the same time of day over the course of an entire year results in an analemma like the one in the picture.

Gathering the sun's positions for each time of day, during all days of the year, creates splines called .

Analemmas
Sun paths change shape depending on the latitude of the selected location
Spherical sun path
Geographical coordinates in the spherical sun path
Sun altitudes for each circle of the spherical sun path
Sun daily paths from Sunrise to Sunset
Characterization of the maximum, mean, and minimum paths line (altitudes) of the sun in the spherical sun path
Spline created by the sun's positions depending on daily hours, in the spherical sun path
Analemma of the sun over a whole year Source: National Geographic