This question has been asked before two times.
In 2012, Position of the sun given time of day, latitude and longitude, Josh O'Brien gave a new version of the function sunPosition:
sunPosition <- function(year, month, day, hour=12, min=0, sec=0,
lat=46.5, long=6.5) {
twopi <- 2 * pi
deg2rad <- pi / 180
# Get day of the year, e.g. Feb 1 = 32, Mar 1 = 61 on leap years
month.days <- c(0,31,28,31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30)
day <- day + cumsum(month.days)[month]
leapdays <- year %% 4 == 0 & (year %% 400 == 0 | year %% 100 != 0) &
day >= 60 & !(month==2 & day==60)
day[leapdays] <- day[leapdays] + 1
# Get Julian date - 2400000
hour <- hour + min / 60 + sec / 3600 # hour plus fraction
delta <- year - 1949
leap <- trunc(delta / 4) # former leapyears
jd <- 32916.5 + delta * 365 + leap + day + hour / 24
# The input to the Atronomer's almanach is the difference between
# the Julian date and JD 2451545.0 (noon, 1 January 2000)
time <- jd - 51545.
# Ecliptic coordinates
# Mean longitude
mnlong <- 280.460 + .9856474 * time
mnlong <- mnlong %% 360
mnlong[mnlong < 0] <- mnlong[mnlong < 0] + 360
# Mean anomaly
mnanom <- 357.528 + .9856003 * time
mnanom <- mnanom %% 360
mnanom[mnanom < 0] <- mnanom[mnanom < 0] + 360
mnanom <- mnanom * deg2rad
# Ecliptic longitude and obliquity of ecliptic
eclong <- mnlong + 1.915 * sin(mnanom) + 0.020 * sin(2 * mnanom)
eclong <- eclong %% 360
eclong[eclong < 0] <- eclong[eclong < 0] + 360
oblqec <- 23.439 - 0.0000004 * time
eclong <- eclong * deg2rad
oblqec <- oblqec * deg2rad
# Celestial coordinates
# Right ascension and declination
num <- cos(oblqec) * sin(eclong)
den <- cos(eclong)
ra <- atan(num / den)
ra[den < 0] <- ra[den < 0] + pi
ra[den >= 0 & num < 0] <- ra[den >= 0 & num < 0] + twopi
dec <- asin(sin(oblqec) * sin(eclong))
# Local coordinates
# Greenwich mean sidereal time
gmst <- 6.697375 + .0657098242 * time + hour
gmst <- gmst %% 24
gmst[gmst < 0] <- gmst[gmst < 0] + 24.
# Local mean sidereal time
lmst <- gmst + long / 15.
lmst <- lmst %% 24.
lmst[lmst < 0] <- lmst[lmst < 0] + 24.
lmst <- lmst * 15. * deg2rad
# Hour angle
ha <- lmst - ra
ha[ha < -pi] <- ha[ha < -pi] + twopi
ha[ha > pi] <- ha[ha > pi] - twopi
# Latitude to radians
lat <- lat * deg2rad
# Azimuth and elevation
el <- asin(sin(dec) * sin(lat) + cos(dec) * cos(lat) * cos(ha))
az <- asin(-cos(dec) * sin(ha) / cos(el))
# For logic and names, see Spencer, J.W. 1989. Solar Energy. 42(4):353
cosAzPos <- (0 <= sin(dec) - sin(el) * sin(lat))
sinAzNeg <- (sin(az) < 0)
az[cosAzPos & sinAzNeg] <- az[cosAzPos & sinAzNeg] + twopi
az[!cosAzPos] <- pi - az[!cosAzPos]
# if (0 < sin(dec) - sin(el) * sin(lat)) {
# if(sin(az) < 0) az <- az + twopi
# } else {
# az <- pi - az
# }
el <- el / deg2rad
az <- az / deg2rad
lat <- lat / deg2rad
return(list(elevation=el, azimuth=az))
}
I would like to calculate sun position around New Caledonia in the Pacific South West and so I entered for example theese values:
sunPosition(2017,03,16,12,0,0,-21,164)
$elevation
[1] -61.29637
$azimuth
[1] 220.4036
But from my point of view, there is an issue, at this time the elevation must be positive. And even by comparing with Suncalc website result which calculates an elevation of 70.70 degrees.
SO, could you confirm to me that in the function I have to enter latitude and longitude in degrees, and the date and hour in local hour? Where Am I wrong? Or is there a mistake in the code?
