Anatomy of the Annular Solar Eclipse of 26 December 2019 and Its Impact on Land– Atmosphere Interactions Over an Arid Region

Abstract

The impact of 26 December 2019 annular solar eclipse (ASE) on meteorological conditions over the southeastern Arabian Peninsula is investigated. Observations sourced from the spinning enhanced visible and infrared imager (SEVIRI) and vertical temperature profiles measured by a microwave radiometer were used. The ASE, which began at 03:36:37.9 Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), that is, 31 m 29.9 s after sunrise, left a significant imprint on the land surface temperature (LST). In particular, in some regions, the LST dropped by more than 4 • C, in comparison to the previous day. In situ soil properties, in particular soil texture, were also found to have modulated the effects of the ASE, with loamy soils experiencing higher heating/cooling rates than sandy soils. Finally, the analysis of atmospheric profiles indicated that the eclipse influenced the flow throughout the atmospheric boundary layer, with a stable layer that was 45-min longer and 90-m deeper compared with the preceding day. Index Terms-Annular solar eclipse (ASE), arid region, microwave radiometer (MWR), spinning enhanced visible and infrared imager (SEVIRI) land surface temperature (LST).

Impact of 21 June 2020 Annular Solar Eclipse on Meteorological Parameters, O3 and CO at a High Mountain Site in Taiwan

“…Overall, in conclusion, for the first time, our study reported the impact of the solar eclipse on various meteorological parameters and trace gases measurements at a high-altitude background station in Taiwan. The observed changes in the meteorological parameters at LABS during the annular solar eclipse matched well with the previously reported studies (Anderson, 1999;Ratnam et al, 2010;Nelli et al, 2020). However, compared to the ground-based surface stations (i.e., Naja and Lal, 1997;Tzanis et al, 2008;Girach et al, 2012;Jain et al, 2020), a higher time lag was noticed for the maximum drop in the ozone from the full phase of the eclipse.…”

Impact of the Eclipsed Sun on Terrestrial Atmospheric Parameters in Desert Locations: A Comprehensive Overview and Two Events Case Study in Saudi Arabia

“…We found that the local weather and geographical conditions of the two eclipse observation sites were different such that it had an impact on the overall air temperature and humidity results. Considering that other authors have published results on atmospheric effects of the recent annular eclipse of 2019 in the Arabian Peninsula but in Abu-Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) and Oman [7] we will try, additionally, to perform a comparison as far as possible with their observations. These twenty-first century solar eclipses cited above are not the first observed scientifically from the Near East or even in the region of the southern Mediterranean basin (northern Africa).…”

“…While there was some haze on the horizon, the weather conditions were optimal to see the whole eclipse. For Riyadh, the observations were made at the King Saud University observatory, while the weather parameters measurements were recorded at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) campus (24 A description of soil texture and topography of the Arabian Peninsula area where the 26 December 2019 was viewed (Al-Hofuf) is given by Nelli et al (2020a) [7]; their Figure 1 shows that around Four Mountains Camp in the upper side of the eclipse's central line, the soil is made of sandy loam and loamy sand. In the lower or opposite side of this line, the soil is made of sandy clay and clay loam.…”

“…Their analysis showed that, except for the coastal parts of Oman, Qatar, and the neighboring Saudi Arabia, skies were generally clear in the region (center panel of Figure 3), which coincides with the December climatology described above. Low atmospheric moisture (right panel of Figure 3) induced strong radiative A description of soil texture and topography of the Arabian Peninsula area where the 26 December 2019 was viewed (Al-Hofuf) is given by Nelli et al (2020a) [7]; their Figure 1 shows that around Four Mountains Camp in the upper side of the eclipse's central line, the soil is made of sandy loam and loamy sand. In the lower or opposite side of this line, the soil is made of sandy clay and clay loam.…”

“…Regarding the atmospheric condition at meso-scale level on 26 December 2019, in the region of the Arabian Peninsula, it was estimated at 06:00 (local time) by Nelli et al (2020a) [7] by applying ERA-5 reanalysis data at 0.25 • × 0.25 • spatial resolution. Their results are presented in Figure 3, which gives the 10 m horizontal winds, surface temperature, total cloud cover, and precipitable water (i.e., total amount of water vapor in the atmosphere) just before the local sunrise.…”