# Geographical Distribution of Global Radiation and Sunshine Duration over the Island of Cyprus
## 3 Results and Discussion
### Daily Values
#### 3.1.1 Monthly Mean Daily Global Irradiation and Mean Daily Sunshine Duration
The lowest values were recorded in the mountainous stations with an annual average of 7.5 h. The highest differences between the stations were observed during the summer months (about 3 h), while during the winter months they were generally lower  
Figure 7: Geographical distribution of the seasonal and annual mean daily global irradiation (MJ/m\({}^{2}\)). than 2 h. Table 4 presents the monthly mean daily values in hours and tenths of all the measurement stations. The highest mean daily sunshine duration was recorded in June or July, and it was almost 12.5 h in the coastal areas and about 12 h in inland plain and semi-mountainous areas. In contrast, it was about 10 h in the mountainous areas. The geographical distribution of the mean daily sunshine duration for the four seasons, as well as for the annual mean daily values for the island of Cyprus, is presented in Figure 9. In winter, the average daily sunshine duration ranged between 4 and 5 h/d, while it was around 6 h/d in coastal and inland plain areas. In summer, it ranged between 10 and 11 h/d in the mountainous areas, while it ranged between 12 and 13 h/d in the coastal and inland plain areas. Figure 8: (**a**) Mean daily sunshine duration (hours) for coastal and plain stations for each month of the year. (**b**) Mean daily sunshine duration (hours) for semi-mountainous and mountainous stations for each month of the year. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Station/Month** & **Elev. (m)** & **Type** & **Class** & **1** & **2** & **3** & **4** & **5** & **6** & **7** & **8** & **9** & **10** & **11** & **12** & **Spring** & **Summer** & **Autumn**} & **Winter** & **Year** \\ \hline Larmaca AP & 2 & CS & c & 5.6 & 7.2 & 8.2 & 10.0 & 10.8 & 12.8 & 13.0 & 12.2 & 10.6 & 8.9 & 7.2 & 5.7 & 9.6 & 12.7 & 8.9 & 6.2 & 7.4 \\ Pados AP & 8 & CS & c & 4.6 & 5.6 & 7.4 & 9.2 & 11.0 & 11.9 & 11.2 & 10.4 & 10.4 & 8.5 & 6.2 & 4.7 & 9.2 & 11.2 & 8.4 & 5.0 & 8.7 \\ Pados Kato & 10 & CS & c & 6.2 & 6.9 & 7.7 & 8.5 & 11.1 & 12.3 & 12.4 & 12.0 & 10.9 & 9.3 & 7.7 & 6.6 & 9.1 & 12.2 & 9.3 & 6.6 & 9.3 \\ Polis & 22 & CSDs & c & 4.4 & 7.3 & 8.4 & 10.0 & 12.2 & 13.3 & 13.4 & 12.5 & 11.3 & 9.4 & 7.0 & 4.0 & 10.2 & 13.0 & 9.2 & 5.2 & 9.4 \\ Azotri & 23 & CS & c & 5.1 & 7.2 & 8.4 & 10.3 & 11.0 & 13.0 & 12.7 & 11.5 & 10.9 & 9.0 & 6.8 & 4.1 & 9.9 & 12.5 & 8.9 & 5.5 & 9.1 \\ Pentskomo & 23 & CSDs & c & 6.3 & 7.4 & 8.5 & 9.9 & 12.1 & 12.4 & 12.6 & 12.1 & 11.1 & 9.6 & 7.4 & 5.9 & 10.2 & 12.4 & 9.4 & 6.6 & 9.7 \\ Akhlaia & 45 & CS & c & 6.0 & 7.0 & 7.8 & 9.5 & 11.2 & 12.6 & 12.6 & 11.8 & 10.7 & 9.0 & 7.7 & 5.9 & 9.5 & 12.3 & 9.1 & 6.3 & 9.3 \\ \hline
**Mean** & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline Xylotagou & 49 & CS & p & 5.7 & 7.0 & 8.0 & 9.3 & 11.1 & 12.3 & 12.3 & 11.9 & 10.6 & 8.8 & 6.8 & 5.8 & 9.5 & 12.2 & 8.7 & 6.1 & 9.1 \\ Akhna Forest & 50 & CS & p & 6.5 & 6.7 & 8.0 & 9.6 & 10.5 & 12.0 & 12.3 & 11.8 & 10.6 & 8.8 & 7.1 & 5.7 & 9.4 & 12.0 & 8.8 & 6.3 & 9.1 \\ Avdimon & 51 & CS & p & 5.3 & 6.8 &Figure 9: _Cont_. Figure 9: _Cont_. As is indicated from the above tables and the geographical distribution of monthly mean daily global radiation and mean daily sunshine duration, both elements decreased with the elevation. Figure 10 shows the relationships between the seasonal and yearly mean values of global irradiation with the elevation. The slopes of the regression lines ranged from \(-0.0010\) in autumn to \(-0.0021\) in spring. The slope in summer (\(-0.0019\)) was close to that in spring, while in winter it was \(-0.0014\). The yearly slope was \(-0.0016\). Generally, the Pearson correlation coefficients were higher than \(0.70\), indicating strong relationships between the mean daily global irradiation and the elevation. The respective seasonal and yearly relationships of the mean daily sunshine duration and the elevation are presented in Figure 5:0 Spring and winter showed similar slopes (\(-0.0013\)), while summer and autumn showed a slope around \(-0.0017\). The yearly slope was \(-0.0012\).