Readers will have noted the absence of an energy index for Perth in our recent November EWE Index article. During the processing of our analyses for that month we found some unusual results which raised a few questions for us — the pyranometer that is used to measure solar radiation on this site was reporting suspiciously low results throughout the day.
In our investigations, we considered whether this was caused by an unusual high number of cloudy days or by an instrument malfunction at the site.
A detailed review of instrument data over recent months uncovered a suspicious reduction in the reported hourly global radiation. Consistently low measurements over a period of several weeks point to the source of the change being an instrument malfunction rather than a result of abnormal weather. After reporting this to the institution who provides the raw data to us, our suspicions were confirmed — we received the official confirmation that the instrument is not functioning properly and that was the cause of these low solar radiation measurements.
As a result of this failure, we are forced suspend the energy part of the Perth EWE index, effective immediately. Our team is already working towards a solution, aiming to also include a coverage of the full history for the site in the coming weeks. In the meantime we will continue to provide the Perth Weather Index analysis to our readers.
We apologise for any inconvenience that this may have caused and we will keep our readers updated with our coming issues of the Exemplary Advances email.
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