Integration of a model of insolation into Almanzora*GIS in order to take anti-erosion decisions. Analysis of alternative models

Into the framework of the Almanzora*GIS project, which has the objective of building a GIS tool to develop two counties in the northern part of the province of Almeria, it was required to build an insolation model to evaluate proposals to stop the erosion of the area. Due to the lack of detailed field data and the complex topography of the area, we decided to compute the insolation theoretically using the SolarFlux macro with ARC/Info. Computing insolation limits through the year was relatively easy using solstitial values, but evaluating the received insolation through the year, taking account of the relief required a long computation time. In this work, we present how we evaluated the impact, in quality of data and computing time, by taking account of the relief in the study area and its environment, as well as the distribution of the influence of the relief. This study presents a methodology and an example of the analysis of the conditions to compute the insolation maps taking account of the relief conditions.