In the DSC technique, isothermal crystallization experiments are usually performed on thin flat specimens, but their interpretation generally uses theories developed for an unbounded volume. In this paper, isothermal crystallization of spherical entities in the volume limited by two parallel infinite planes is considered. Our model, derived from Avrami's theory, gives an analytical expression for the transformed volume fraction as a function of time. It is shown that the influence of thickness becomes important when thickness becomes of the order of or smaller than the average spherulite radius. The main effects of a decreasing thickness are a slower crystallization kinetics and a decrease in the Avrami exponent. These results can be used to interpret experimental data obtained in isothermal polymer crystallization.

Abstract. The solar hourly global irradiation received at ground level estimated by the databases HelioClim3v4, HelioClim-3v5 and CAMS Radiation Service are compared to coincident measurements made in five stations in Oman and Abu Dhabi. CAMS is an abbreviation of Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. Each database describes the hour-to-hour changes in irradiation very well with correlation coefficients greater than 0.97 for all stations. Each database exhibits a tendency to underestimate the irradiation in this area; the bias is small and less than 5 % of the average of the measurements in absolute value. The RMSE ranges between 70 and 90 Wh m −2 (11 to 16 %). This validation of the three databases for this arid region on the edge of the Meteosat coverage reveals satisfactory results. Each database captures accurately the temporal and spatial variability of the irradiance field. It is found that the three databases do not exhibit noticeable geographical changes in performances and are reliable sources to assess the SSI in this region.

Abstract. The SoDa website (www.soda-pro.com) is populated with numerous solar-related Web services. Among them, three satellite-derived irradiation databases can be manually or automatically accessed to retrieve radiation values within the geographical coverage of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite: the two most advanced versions of the HelioClim-3 database (versions 4 and 5, respectively HC3v4 and HC3v5), and the CAMS radiation service. So far, these databases have been validated against measurements of several stations in Europe and North Africa only. As the quality of such databases depends on the geographical regions and the climates, this paper extends this validation campaign and proposes an extensive comparison on Brazil and global irradiation received on a horizontal surface. Eleven stations from the Brazilian Institute of Space Research (INPE) network offer 1 min observations, and thirty-one stations from the Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET) network offer hourly observations. The satellite-derived estimates have been compared to the corresponding observations on hourly, daily and monthly basis. The bias relative to the mean of the measurements for HC3v5 is mostly comprised between 1 and 3 %, and that for HC3v4 between 2 and 5 %. These are very satisfactory results and they demonstrate that HC3v5, and to a lesser extent HC3v4, may be used in studies of long-term changes in SSI in Brazil. The situation is not so good with CAMS radiation service for which the relative bias is mostly comprised between 5 and 10 %. For hourly irradiation, the relative RMSE ranges from 15 to 33 %. The correlation coefficient is very large for all stations and the three databases, with an average of 0.96. The three databases reproduce well the hour from hour changes in SSI. The errors show a tendency to increase with the viewing angle of the MSG satellite. They are greater in tropical areas where the relative humidity in the atmosphere is important. It is concluded that except for the overestimation by CAMS radiation service, the three databases are suitable for studies of the solar resources in Brazil.

The HelioClim-1 database contains daily values of the solar radiation reaching the ground. This GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) Data Collection of Open Resources for Everyone (Data-CORE) covers Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean, from 1985 to 2005. It is freely accessible at no cost through the SoDa Service (www.soda-is.com). Several assessments of the HelioClim-1 data against measurements made in meteorological networks reveal that the HelioClim-1 database offers a reliable and accurate knowledge of the solar radiation and its daily, seasonal and annual variations over recent years. The HelioClim-1 data may help in qualifying in situ measurements and may supplement them, thus offering 21 years of accurate daily means of surface solar irradiance. Several published works benefited from openness, availability and accuracy of the He-lioClim-1 database in various domains: oceanography, climate, energy production, life cycle analysis, agriculture, forestry, architecture, health and air quality. This demonstration of the benefit of the HelioClim-1 database draws attention to resources open to everyone such as those labeled GEOSS Data-CORE.