In the year 1998, the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO), Directorate of Science and Scientific Research, Tunis, had launched the "Solar Radiation Atlas for the Arab World". This atlas contains three sets of maps (using Mercator projection) for monthly means, where each stands for one month. These are sunshine duration, global solar radiation and diffuse solar radiation. The atlas contains data for nearly 280 stations from 19 Arab states which cover latitudes from 0degrees (tropic) to 37degreesN and longitudes 19degreesE to nearly 60degreesE with different elevations from the sea level. It also contains useful tables of the monthly recorded means of the direct, diffuse and global solar radiation as well as the sunshine duration for 16 Arab states including 207 cities. The maximum recorded annual mean (10 years) of the global solar radiation in the Arab world was 6.7 kW h/m(2)/day in Nouakchott (latitude 20degrees56'N, longitude 17degrees02'E), Mauritania, and 6.6 kW h/m(2)/day in Tamenraset (latitude 36degrees11'N and longitude 5degrees31'E), Algeria, while the lowest recorded annual mean global solar radiation was 4.1 kW h/m(2)/day in Mosul (latitude 43degreesN and longitude 36degreesE), Iraq. Furthermore, the maximum recorded annual mean sunshine duration in the Arab world was 10.7 h in Aswan (latitude 23degrees58'N, longitude 32degrees47'E), Egypt, and the lowest was 7.5 h in Tunis (latitude 36degrees50'N, longitude 10degrees 14'E), Tunisia. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.