Sunshine recorder

A sunshine recorder is a device that measures how much sunshine there is in a place at any time. This helps us learn about the weather and climate of an area, as well as its temperature. Knowing this information is important for many jobs and studies, such as meteorology, science, agriculture, and tourism. These devices are sometimes called a heliograph.

There are two main kinds of sunshine recorders. One kind uses the Sun itself to keep track of time for the measurements. The other kind uses a clock for timing.

In the past, people had to look at the results and decide what they meant, which could lead to different answers from different people. Today, modern sunshine recorders use electronic tools and computers to give exact data that does not need a person to read it. The newest kinds of these devices can also measure both the total sunlight and the sunlight that spreads out in different directions.

Examples

A Campbell–Stokes recorder uses a glass sphere to focus the Sun’s rays onto a card. This creates a mark that shows how many hours of bright sunlight there were. Meteorologists study these marks to learn about sunlight patterns.