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.
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 | Value | BP Amoco Cherry Point Refinery | BP Texas City Refinery | BP Toledo Refinery | BP West Coast Products Refinery | BP Whiting Refinery | Chalmette Refining LLC Refinery | Chevron El Segundo Refinery | Citgo Corpus Christi Refinery | Citgo Petroleum Corp Lake Charles Refinery | Coffeyville Resources Refinery | ConocoPhillips Alliance (Belle Chasse) Oil Refinery LA USA | ConocoPhillips Borger Refinery | ConocoPhillips Linden Refinery | ConocoPhillips Ponca City Refinery | ConocoPhillips Sweeny Refinery | ConocoPhillips Westlake Refinery | ConocoPhillips Wilmington Refinery | ConocoPhillips Wood River Refinery | Crown Central Petroleum Corp Refinery | Deer Park Refining LTD Ptnrshp Refinery | ExxonMobil Baytown Refinery USA | ExxonMobil Beaumont Refinery | ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery | ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery | Flint Hills Resources LP Refinery | Flint Hills Resources LP Saint Paul Refinery | Flint Hills Resources North Pole Refinery | Frontier Refining and Marketing Inc El Dorado Refinery | Imperial Oil Nanticoke Refinery | Imperial Oil Sarnia Refinery | Imperial Oil Strathcona Refinery | Irving Oil Limited Refinery | Lyondell Citgo Refining Houston Refinery | Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC Catlettsburg Refinery | Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC Garyville Refinery | Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC Robinson Refinery | Motiva Enterprises LLC Convent Refinery | Motiva Enterprises LLC Norco Refinery | Motiva Enterprises LLC Port Arthur Refinery | Murphy Oil U.S.A. Inc Meraux Refinery | North Atlantic Refining Come by Chance Refinery | PBF Paulsboro Refinery NJ USA | PDV Midwest Refining LLC Lemont Refinery | Petro Canada Edmonton Refinery | Petro Canada Montreal Refinery | Premcor Refining Group Inc Lima Refinery | Premcor Refining Group Inc Memphis Refinery | Premcor Refining Group Inc Port Arthur Refinery | Premcore Refining Group Inc Delaware Refinery | Shell Anacortes Refinery | Shell Montreal East Refinery | Shell Oil Martinez Refinery | Shell Scotford Refinery | Sunoco Philadelphia Refinery | Sunoco Toledo Refinery | Tesoro Golden Eagle Martinez Refinery | Total Petrochemicals Inc Port Arthur Refinery | Ultramar(Valero) Jean-Gaulin Refinery | Valero Energy Corp Sunray Refinery | Valero Refining Co Corpus Christi West Refinery | Valero Refining Co Texas City Refinery | Valero Refining Corpus Christi East Plant | Valero Refining Port Arthur Refinery | Valero Saint Charles Oil Refinery LA USA | Valero Wilmington Refinery | Western Refining Co El Paso Refinery | |
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| 13.3% | 34.1% | 49.4% | 36.1% | 40.7% | 37.0% | 24.4% | 42.3% | 44.7% | 2.23% | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||