Vectorized Solar Azimuth and Elevation Estimation

Predict the topocentric solar position defined by geodetic lat, lon, Alt, and a universal time
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Updated 18 Apr 2013

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Predict the azimuth and elevation of the Sun within +/- 1 degree at any geodetic latitude, longitude and altitude. Due to popular demand, this routine has been vectorized for speed.

Function Call: [Az El] = SolarAzEl('2008/02/18 13:10:00',60,15,0)

Input List:
UTC Date and Time - Use format YYYY/MM/DD hh:mm:ss or MATLAB date vector dimensions can be [N x 1]
Latitude - Site Latitude in degrees -90:90 -> S(-) N(+) dimensions can be [N x 1]
Longitude - Site Longitude in degrees -180:180 W(-) E(+) dimensions can be [N x 1]
Altitude - Site Altitude in km dimensions can be [N x 1]

Output List:
Az - Solar Azimuth angle in degrees [N x 1]
El - Solar Elevation/Altitude Angle in degrees [N x 1]

Cite As

Darin Koblick (2024). Vectorized Solar Azimuth and Elevation Estimation (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/23051-vectorized-solar-azimuth-and-elevation-estimation), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2008b
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux
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Version Published Release Notes
1.1.0.0

Vectorized routine. Added the ability to take either UTC time string, or an array of MATLAB date vectors.

1.0.0.0