Premium
Aerosol effects in the UV‐B spectral region over Pune, an urban site in India
Author(s) -
Panicker A. S.,
Pandithurai G.,
Takamura T.,
Pinker R. T.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2009gl037632
Subject(s) - aerosol , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , climatology , remote sensing , geology
Collocated measurements of UV‐B irradiance and aerosol optical characteristics have been carried out over Pune, western India from April 2004 to March 2005 to estimate the role of aerosols in UV‐B radiation at the surface. It is found that a unit increases in aerosol optical depth reduces by about 40–56% of the harmful UV‐B radiation that reaches the site. Ultraviolet‐impact on human health is usually characterized by the UV‐index (UV‐I), and is estimated with the aid of a radiative transfer model using aerosol and ozone measurements over the site. The index is found to be in the extreme range (10.1 to 13.5) during pre‐monsoon, high to extreme (8.5 to 11) during post‐ monsoon and high (7 to 10) during the winter seasons, vulnerable to sensitive skin. The estimated UV‐I values are found to be compared well with SCIAMACHY satellite observed UV‐I values with mean ratio of 0.95 ± 0.05.