PV-soiling field-assessment of Mars™ optical sensor operating in the harsh desert environment of the state of Qatar

•Efficient operability and viability of the MOSS in hot, sunny and very dusty conditions.•High correlations between the MOSS output and the traditional soiling measurements methods.•Ability of Mars™ to detect daily soiling level differences about 0.11% mismatch or better.•Demonstrating the feasibility of MOSS to be deployed in different geographical locations.•Effectiveness of MOSS in measuring a wide range of PV-Soiling in commercial-scale PV installations.