Colette Brogniez

SUSPEN intercomparison of ultraviolet spectroradiometers

Results from an intercomparison campaign of ultraviolet spectroradiometers that was organized at Nea Michaniona, Greece July, 1–13 1997, are presented. Nineteen instrument systems from 15 different countries took part and provided spectra of global solar UV irradiance for two consecutive days from sunrise to sunset every half hour. No data exchange was allowed between participants in order to achieve absolutely independent results among the instruments. The data analysis procedure included the determination of wavelength shifts and the application of suitable corrections to the measured spectra, their standardization to common spectral resolution of 1 nm full width at half maximum and the application of cosine corrections. Reference spectra were calculated for each observational time, derived for a set of instruments which were objectively selected and used as comparison norms for the assessment of the relative agreement among the various instruments. With regard to the absolute irradiance measurements, the range of the deviations from the reference for all spectra was within ±20%. About half of the instruments agreed to within ±5%, while only three fell outside the ±10% agreement limit. As for the accuracy of the wave-length registration of the recorded spectra, for most of the spectroradiometers (14) the calculated wavelength shifts were smaller than 0.2 nm. The overall outcome of the campaign was very encouraging, as it was proven that the agreement among the majority of the instruments was good and comparable to the commonly accepted uncertainties of spectral UV measurements. In addition, many of the instruments provided consistent results relative to at least the previous two intercomparison campaigns, held in 1995 in Ispra, Italy and in 1993 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. As a result of this series of intercomparison campaigns, several of the currently operating spectroradiometers operating may be regarded as a core group of instruments, which with the employment of proper operational procedures are capable of providing quality spectral solar UV measurements.

Variability of UV Irradiance in Europe

The diurnal and annual variability of solar UV radiation in Europe is described for different latitudes, seasons and different biologic weighting functions. For the description of this variability under cloudless skies the widely used one‐dimensional version of the radiative transfer model UVSPEC is used. We reconfirm that the major factor influencing the diurnal and annual variability of UV irradiance is solar elevation. While ozone is a strong absorber of UV radiation its effect is relatively constant when compared with the temporal variability of clouds. We show the significant role that clouds play in modifying the UV climate by analyzing erythemal irradiance measurements from 28 stations in Europe in summer. On average, the daily erythemal dose under cloudless skies varies between 2.2 kJ m−2 at 70°N and 5.2 kJ m−2 at 35°N, whereas these values are reduced to 1.5–4.5 kJ m−2 if clouds are included. Thus clouds significantly reduce the monthly UV irradiation, with the smallest reductions, on average, at lower latitudes, which corresponds to the fact that it is often cloudless in the Mediterranean area in summer.

From model intercomparison toward benchmark UV spectra for six real atmospheric cases

The validity of a radiative transfer model can be checked either by comparing its results with measurements or with solutions for artificial cases. Unfortunately, neither type of comparison can guarantee that the spectral UV surface irradiance is accurately calculated for real atmospheric cases. There is a need therefore for benchmarks, i.e., standard results that can be used as a validation tool for UV radiation models. In this paper we give such benchmarks for six cloud-free situations. The chosen cases are characterized by different values of solar zenith angle, ozone column, aerosol loading, and surface albedo. Observations are also available for these cases to allow a further comparison between model results and measurements. An intercomparison of 12 numerical models is used to construct the benchmarks. Each model is supplied with identical input data, and a distinction is made between models that assume a planeparallel geometry and those that use a pseudospherical approximation. Differences remain between the model results, because of different treatments of the input data set. Calculations of direct and global transmission and direct and global irradiance are within 3% for wavelengths longer than 320 nm. For the low-Sun cases the calculations are within 10% for wavelengths longer than 300 nm. On the basis of these calculations, six benchmark UV spectra (295–400 nm) are established with a standard deviation of 2%. Relative standard deviations are higher for the lowest absolute intensities at low Sun (5% at 300 nm). The variation between models is typically less than the variation seen between model and measurement. Differences between the benchmarks and the observed spectra are mainly due to the uncertainty in the input parameters. In four of the six cases the benchmarks agree with the observed spectra within 13% over the whole UV spectral region.

Europe's darker atmosphere in the UV-B

Irradiation in the ultraviolet wavelength range is found to be up to 50% lower in the European summer compared to sites with comparable latitudes in New Zealand. We have developed a method to quantitatively attribute the causes for such differences between sites by analysis of spectra. We conclude that these large differences are caused mainly by differences in total ozone, cloudiness, aerosol loading and Sun-Earth separation. The relative contribution of clouds varies from year to year and it is site dependent. Averaged over several years we find a strong latitudinal gradient of the cloud impact within Europe, with much less cloud attenuation in southern Europe. Due to the differences in total ozone and aerosol loading, the UV-B levels are generally lower in Europe compared to New Zealand. It is likely that inter-hemispheric differences will change in coming decades due to a combination of changes in ozone concentrations, air pollution and cloudiness as a result of climate change. However, since the future evolution of these major parameters is highly uncertain, the magnitude and even the sign of such changes are not known yet.

Validation of GOMOS‐Envisat vertical profiles of O3, NO2, NO3, and aerosol extinction using balloon‐borne instruments and analysis of the retrievals

The UV-visible Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) instrument onboard Envisat performs nighttime measurements of ozone, NO 2 , NO 3 and of the aerosol extinction, using the stellar occultation method. We have conducted a validation exercise using various balloon-borne instruments in different geophysical conditions from 2002 to 2006, using GOMOS measurements performed with stars of different magnitudes. GOMOS and balloon-borne vertical columns in the middle stratosphere are in excellent agreement for ozone and NO 2 . Some discrepancies can appear between GOMOS and balloon-borne vertical profiles for the altitude and the amplitude of the concentration maximum. These discrepancies are randomly distributed, and no bias is detected. The accuracy of individual profiles in the middle stratosphere is 10 % for ozone and 25 % for NO 2 . On the other hand, the GOMOS NO 3 retrieval is difficult and no direct validation can be conducted. The GOMOS aerosol content is also well estimated, but the wavelength dependence can be better estimated if the aerosol retrieval is performed only in the visible domain. We can conclude that the GOMOS operational retrieval algorithm works well and that GOMOS has fully respected its primary objective for the study of the trends of species in the middle stratosphere, using the profiles in a statistical manner. Some individual profiles can be partly inaccurate, in particular in the lower stratosphere. Improvements could be obtained by reprocessing some GOMOS transmissions in case of specific studies in the middle and lower stratosphere when using the individual profiles.

Optical and physical properties of stratospheric aerosols from balloon measurements in the visible and near-infrared domains. II. Comparison of extinction, reflectance, polarization, and counting measurements

The physical properties of stratospheric aerosols can be retrieved from optical measurements involving extinction, radiance, polarization, and counting. We present here the results of measurements from the balloonborne instruments AMON, SALOMON, and RADIBAL, and from the French Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique and the University of Wyoming balloonborne particle counters. A cross comparison of the measurements was made for observations of background aerosols conducted during the polar winters of February 1997 and January-February 2000 for various altitudes from 13 to 19 km. On the one band, the effective radius and the total amount of background aerosols derived from the various sets of data are similar and are in agreement with pre-Pinatubo values. On the other hand, strong discrepancies occur in the shapes of the bimodal size distributions obtained from analysis of the raw measurement of the various instruments. It seems then that the log-normal assumption cannot fully reproduce the size distribution of background aerosols. The effect ofthe presence of particular aerosols on the measurements is discussed, and a new strategy for observations is proposed.

Ultraviolet spectral irradiance in the French Alps: Results of two campaigns

The ultraviolet spectral irradiance has been measured in the Alps in Briancon (altitude 1300 m asl) in July 1996 and March 1997, with the spectroradiometer of the University of Lille. The erythemal dose rate has been measured simultaneously with a broadband instrument. The aerosol optical depth, necessary as input for modeling, was measured with a Sun photometer. On cloudy days, irradiance is highly variable, with values exceeding those of clear days when the direct solar beam is not obstructed by clouds. For clear days, measured values are compared with the results of a radiative transfer model, and the influence of altitude and ground surface reflectance is analyzed. For the same solar zenith angle, irradiance in UVA is 8–10% higher in Briancon than in Brussels, half of the difference being due to the higher altitude of Briancon. Comparison of winter and summer values shows an amplification of ∼10–15% in winter owing to the snow reflectance; it can be explained by an effective reflectance of 0.3–0.4.

Comparison between UV index measurements performed by research-grade and consumer-products instruments

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure, skin cancer and other related diseases are not just subjects of scientific literature. Nowadays, these themes are also discussed on television, newspapers and magazines for the general public. Consequently, the interest in prevention of sun overexposure is increasing, as the knowledge of photoprotection methods and UVR levels. The ultraviolet index (UVI) is a well-known tool recommended by the World Health Organization to avoid harmful effects of UV sunlight. UVI forecasts are provided by many national meteorological services, but local UVI measurements can provide a more realistic and appropriate evaluation of UVR levels. Indeed, as scientific instruments are very expensive and difficult to manipulate, several manufacturers and retail shops offer cheap and simple non-scientific instruments for UVI measurements, sometimes included in objects of everyday life, such as watches, outfits and hand-held instruments. In this work, we compare measurements provided by several commercial non-scientific instruments with data provided by a Bentham spectrometer, a very accurate sensor used for UV measurements. Results show that only a few of the instruments analyzed provide trustworthy UVI measurements.

Second European Stratospheric Arctic and Midlatitude Experiment campaign: Correlative measurements of aerosol in the northern polar atmosphere

The stratospheric aerosol layer in the Arctic winter was studied by three independent, height-resolving, optical techniques close in space and time on February 2, 1994, above northern Scandinavia. The balloon-borne Radiometre Ballon (RADIBAL) experiment measured altitude profiles of the radiance and polarization of scattered sunlight at two wavelengths: a ground-based lidar measured vertical backscatter ratio profiles at one wavelength and the satellite-borne Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) II solar occultation instrument measured atmospheric extinction at nine wavelengths. From the RADIBAL data the mode radius and variance of the aerosol size distribution are derived as well as the particle refractive index. This size distribution is used to convert the lidar backscatter ratio to an extinction coefficient. The POAM 11 aerosol extinction coefficients are derived under the assumption that the spectral dependence of the aerosol optical depth follows a quadratic law at all altitudes. This quadratic dependence is used to deduce the mode radius and variance of the aerosol size distribution and to interpolate the POAM data to the wavelengths of the other two instruments. In the common altitude range of measurements, from 15 to 23 km, the derived aerosol extinction profiles agree within the instrument measurement errors and the temporal and spatial variability of the aerosol layer. The geographic area of measurements was outside the polar vortex on that day. The effective aerosol particle radius decreases slightly with increasing altitude from 0.40 μm at 16 km to 0.25 μm at 22 km and the effective variance ranges from 0.15 to 0.25. The mean refractive index is 1.44 at 850 nm, which is compatible with a 75%-sulfuric acid-water aerosol. The aerosol number densities decrease from 5 to 1 cm -3 over the 16- to 22-km altitude range and the surface area density decreases from 5 to less than 1 μm 2 cm -3 over the same altitude range.

Characterization of aerosols from simulated SAGE III measurements applying two retrieval techniques

We investigated the retrieval of aerosol properties and the extinction due to aerosols at the ozone and water vapor channels from simulated measurements at variations of the planned Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III aerosol channels. The aerosol quantities surface area, volume, and effective radius are retrieved through the application of two distinct algorithms in the form of the randomized-minimization-search technique (RMST) and the constrained linear inversion (CLI) method. These aerosol quantities are important as inputs in climate, photochemical, and radiative forcing models and are useful in comparing diverse measurements. Ten analytical size distributions fitted to aerosol populations measured in situ are used with a Mie scattering code in conjunction with a Monte Carlo technique to simulate SAGE III measurements. These models consist of variations of prevolcanic and postvolcanic size distributions that exhibit various spectral shapes. Neither the complex components nor the uncertainties of the refractive indices are considered. We developed an objective scheme to estimate the systematic, random, and total uncertainties of each retrieved quantity that considers the contribution of the particles that lie outside the retrieved size range. Results, based on the 10 selected aerosol models, indicate that in the seven-eight SAGE III channel retrievals, both algorithms obtain estimated total errors in the range 8-50% for the surface area with an average total error (R*) of ∼25%; for the volume the range is 5-25% with an R* of ∼12%, and for the effective radius, the range is 6-36% with an R* of 20% though both inversion techniques are applied in different size ranges. The inversion of the six longest channels to study aerosol properties in both the lower stratosphere and the upper troposphere leads to RMST R* values of ∼32, ∼15, and ∼20% and CLI R* values of ∼48, ∼22, and ∼31% for the surface area, volume, and effective radius, respectively. In the seven wavelength retrievals, both algorithms retrieved the extinction coefficients at the unused channel to within their measurement uncertainties except at the 0.385 and 1.550 μm channels located at the tail ends of the SAGE III aerosol extinction spectrum. The calculated extinction due to aerosols at the water vapor channel at 0.940 μm and the ozone channel at 0.600 μm produced R* values of <10 and <15% for both techniques. We have shown that the application of either technique, when properly tailored to the SAGE III system, not only can obtain useful aerosol information in most cases but also can estimate reasonably the extinction due to aerosols at other wavelengths within the SAGE III wavelength range.