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TEMPORAL CHANGES IN SURFACE ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION: A STUDY OF THE ROBERTSON‐BERGER METER AND DOBSON DATA RECORDS
Author(s) -
Frederick John E.,
Weatherhead Elizabeth C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1992.tb09613.x
Subject(s) - irradiance , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , cloud cover , climatology , ozone , radiation , ozone depletion , meteorology , geography , geology , physics , optics , cloud computing , computer science , operating system
— Ultraviolet radiation data sets obtained by Robertson‐Berger meters located at Bismarck, ND and Tallahassee, FL show variations over the time period 1974–1985 which we interpret in terms of clouds and ozone. Cloudiness is a major source of variance in the irradiance measurements. When this variance is minimized, the monthly mean Robertson‐Berger meter record contains trends which are in good agreement with irradiance calculations based on the Dobson ozone measurements in spring, summer and early autumn. Despite the agreement among trends, predictions based on the ozone data explain 40% or less of the variance in the monthly mean radiation values over the 11‐year period. The radiation measurements contain negative trends in winter which are contrary to expectations based on the behavior of ozone alone. These trends remain when we minimize the effects of cloudiness. Based on the information available in this study, it is not possible to determine whether the wintertime trends have an instrumental or environmental origin.