Insolation
WorldPhysical EnvironmentAverage annual levels of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface
NOAAA map shows areas of insolation (incoming solar radiation) across the world, categorized by watts per square meter.
The map illustrates global insolation, showing variations in incoming solar radiation from the tropics to the polar regions. In the Northern Hemisphere, high insolation (220 to 280 plus watts per square meter), highlighted as dark green to dark red spans from northwestern Mexico through southern Texas, Florida, and the Caribbean, across the Atlantic to North Africa and Southwest Asia, with peaks in the eastern Sahara and Arabian Peninsula. In the Southern Hemisphere, high insolation areas stretch from East Africa to South Africa and across the Indian Ocean to most of Australia, with other high insolation zones in the Central Pacific and south-central South America. Middle insolation values (120 to 219 watts per square meter), highlighted as light blue to green, are found between 50 degrees north and 50 degrees south latitude, excluding high insolation regions. Low insolation areas (80 to 119 watts per square meter), highlighted as blue to light blue, are located north of the 50-degree lines to the poles in North America, the North Atlantic, and Eurasia, and around the Southern Ocean in Antarctica. The lowest insolation values (less than 80 watts per square meter), highlighted as dark blue, are in the ocean east of northern Greenland.
280 and above | 260–279 | 240–259 | 220–239 | 200–219 | 180–199 | 160–179 | 140–159 | 120–139 | 100–119 | 80–99 | Less than 80 | Class | Rank | Metric tons | Antarctic 200NM zone beyond the coastline | Azerbaijanis Exclusive Economic Zone | Marshall Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | Nauruan Exclusive Economic Zone | Palau Exclusive Economic Zone | Saint Kitts and Nevis Exclusive Economic Zone | Tuvaluan Exclusive Economic Zone | Yemeni Exclusive Economic Zone | Overlapping claim Chagos Archipelago Exclusive Economic Zone: UK / Mauritius | Overlapping claim Falkland / Malvinas Islands Exclusive Economic Zone: UK / Argentina | Overlapping claim Gibraltarian Exclusive Economic Zone | Overlapping claim Mayotte: France / Comoros | Overlapping claim South Georgia and South Sandwich Exclusive Economic Zone: UK / Argentina | Micronesian Exclusive Economic Zone | Madagascan Exclusive Economic Zone | Papua New Guinean Exclusive Economic Zone | Jamaican Exclusive Economic Zone | Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone (Azores) | Aruban Exclusive Economic Zone | Bonaire Exclusive Economic Zone | Curaçaoan Exclusive Economic Zone | Dutch Exclusive Economic Zone | Saba Exclusive Economic Zone | Sint-Eustatius Exclusive Economic Zone | Sint-Maarten Exclusive Economic Zone | Russian Exclusive economic Zone | Guinea Bissau Exclusive Economic Zone | Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone | Italian Exclusive Economic Zone | Icelandic Exclusive Economic Zone | Anguilla Exclusive Economic Zone | Ascension Exclusive Economic Zone | Bermudian Exclusive Economic Zone | British Virgin Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | Cayman Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | Guernsey Exclusive Economic Zone | Jersey Exclusive Economic Zone | Montserrat Exclusive Economic Zone | Pitcairn Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | St. Helena Exclusive Economic Zone | Turks and Caicos Exclusive Economic Zone | United Kingdom Exclusive Economic Zone | Canadian Exclusive Economic Zone | Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone | Belizean Exclusive Economic Zone | Grenadian Exclusive Economic Zone | Bahraini Exclusive Economic Zone | Barbados Exclusive Economic Zone | Saint Lucia Exclusive Economic Zone | Cuban Exclusive Economic Zone | Seychellois Exclusive Economic Zone | Bruneian Exclusive Economic Zone | Solomon Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | Danish Exclusive Economic Zone | Faeroe Exclusive Economic Zone | Greenlandic Exclusive Economic Zone | Chilean Exclusive Economic Zone | Dominican Exclusive Economic Zone | Vanuatu Exclusive Economic Zone | Cypriote Exclusive Economic Zone | Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone | Honduran Exclusive Economic Zone | Croatian Exclusive Economic Zone | Sierra Leonian Exclusive Economic Zone | Venezuelan Exclusive Economic Zone | Maltese Exclusive Economic Zone | United Arab Emirates Exclusive Economic Zone | Mauritian Exclusive Economic Zone | Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone | Niue Exclusive Economic Zone | American Samoa Exclusive Economic Zone | Guam Exclusive Economic Zone | Northern Mariana Exclusive Economic Zone | Puerto Rican Exclusive Economic Zone | United States Exclusive Economic Zone (Alaska) | Virgin Islander Exclusive Economic Zone | French Exclusive Economic Zone | French Polynesian Exclusive Economic Zone | Guadeloupean Exclusive Economic Zone | Kerguelen Exclusive Economic Zone | Martinican Exclusive Economic Zone | New Caledonian Exclusive Economic Zone | Réunion Exclusive Economic Zone | Saint-Barthélemy Exclusive Economic Zone | Saint-Martin Exclusive Economic Zone | Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Exclusive Economic Zone | Wallis and Futuna Exclusive Economic Zone | Comoran Exclusive Economic Zone | Bahamas Exclusive Economic Zone | Australian Exclusive Economic Zone | Christmas Island Exclusive Economic Zone | Heard and McDonald Islands Exclusive Economic Zone | Norfolk Island Exclusive Economic Zone | Antigua and Barbuda Exclusive Economic Zone | Trinidad and Tobago Exclusive Economic Zone | Ecuadorian Exclusive Economic Zone (Galapagos) | Ecuadorian Exclusive Economic Zone | Cape Verdean Exclusive Economic Zone | Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone | Haitian Exclusive Economic Zone | Panamanian Exclusive Economic Zone | East Timorian Exclusive Economic Zone | Samoan Exclusive Economic Zone | Qatari Exclusive Economic Zone | Greek Exclusive Economic Zone | Malaysian Exclusive Economic Zone | Fijian Exclusive Economic Zone | Sao Tome and Principe Exclusive Economic Zone | Taiwanese Exclusive Economic Zone | Maldives Exclusive Economic Zone | Bangladeshi Exclusive Economic Zone | South Korean Exclusive Economic Zone | Vietnamese Exclusive Economic Zone | Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone | Svalvard Exclusive Economic Zone | Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone | Costa Rican Exclusive Economic Zone | Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone | Myanmar Exclusive Economic Zone | Chinese Exclusive Economic Zone | Irish Exclusive Economic Zone | Kiribati Exclusive Economic Zone (Gilbert Islands) | Kiribati Exclusive Economic Zone (Line Islands) | Kiribati Exclusive Economic Zone (Phoenix Islands) | Singaporean Exclusive Economic Zone | Dominican Republic Exclusive Economic Zone | Estonian Exclusive Economic Zone | Tongan Exclusive Economic Zone | Sri Lankan Exclusive Economic Zone | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Exclusive Economic Zone | Lebanese Exclusive Economic Zone | Eritrean Exclusive Economic Zone | |
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| 22.2% | 39.2% | 38.8% | 23.0% | 48.3% | 29.3% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 30.3% | 51.5% | 53.3% | 37.8% | 31.4% | 29.4% | 3.01% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 53.8% | 71.3% | 64.6% | 100% | 16.4% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24.2% | 10.8% | 32.1% | 20.0% | 10.7% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 67.9% | 1.54% | 1.15% | 23.6% | 32.7% | 37.1% | 3.32% | 1.10% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 100% | 3.17% | 20.4% | 20.7% | 37.8% | 46.8% | 34.8% | 33.8% | 79.7% | 12.5% | 69.9% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8.19% | 16.7% | 28.7% | 36.0% | 25.2% | 9.12% | 9.14% | 13.1% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 39.9% | 47.7% | 8.87% | 62.1% | 61.7% | 100% | 1.47% | 98.6% | 100% | 99.6% | 1.44% | 100% | 11.5% | 100% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16.8% | 5.48% | 11.6% | 14.6% | 1.79% | 17.2% | 14.4% | 23.3% | 28.2% | 21.2% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4.91% | 9.95% | 44.8% | 47.2% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 44.2% | 25.1% | 71.7% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 44.5% | 47.7% | 12.8% | 13.5% | 24.0% | 29.3% | 1.01% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3.98% | 12.4% | 32.2% | 38.6% | 22.5% | 44.2% | 32.5% | 100% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||