After moving to Arizona, I wondered why they took air temperature measurements in the shade. When you put a glass thermometer out in the sun, it breaks. An electronic thermometer encounters radiation interference and gives a hotter reading. I have invented two different thermometers that can differentiate between air temperature and total solar irradiance.
Directional Thermometer
There is a huge amount of radiation error in the instruments being used over the last 45 years. The radiation shields are mostly made of plastic and work by the temperature sensor encased in plastic. They rely on artificial airflow, like a fan, or natural airflow, such as wind blowing through it. Current radiation shields are off up to 3-4 degrees due to radiation error. I corrected this problem with temperature sensors directly exposed to the air.
My highly accurate reference temperature device (Patent No. US9063003B2 and Canadian Patent 2815909) tracks the sun and contains a black body receiver that is constantly shaded with parabolic reflectors on the top and bottom. It is used to calibrate and compare other thermometers in the field.
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