A sunshine recorder is a device that records the amount of sunshine at a given location. The results provide information about the weather and climate of a geographical area. This information is useful in meteorology, science, agriculture, tourism, and other fields.
There are two basic types of sunshine recorders. One type uses the sun itself as a times 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.
Famous quotes containing the word sunshine:
“The Helicon of too many poets is not a hill crowned with sunshine and visited by the Muses and the Graces, but an old, mouldering house, full of gloom and haunted by ghosts.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)