Felix Zamorano

An alternative method for calibration of narrow band radiometer using a radiative transfer model

The continual monitoring of solar UV radiation is one of the major objectives proposed by many atmosphere research groups. The purpose of this task is to determine the status and degree of progress over time of the anthropogenic composition perturbation of the atmosphere. Such changes affect the intensity of the UV solar radiation transmitted through the atmosphere that then interacts with living organisms and all materials, causing serious consequences in terms of human health and durability of materials that interact with this radiation. One of the many challenges that need to be faced to perform these measurements correctly is the maintenance of periodic calibrations of these instruments. Otherwise, damage caused by the UV radiation received will render any one calibration useless after the passage of some time. This requirement makes the usage of these instruments unattractive, and the lack of frequent calibration may lead to the loss of large amounts of acquired data. Motivated by this need to maintain calibration or, at least, know the degree of stability of instrumental behavior, we have developed a calibration methodology that uses the potential of radiative transfer models to model solar radiation with 5% accuracy or better relative to actual conditions. Voltage values in each radiometer channel involved in the calibration process are carefully selected from clear sky data. Thus, tables are constructed with voltage values corresponding to various atmospheric conditions for a given solar zenith angle. Then we model with a radiative transfer model using the same conditions as for the measurements to assemble sets of values for each zenith angle. The ratio of each group (measured and modeled) allows us to calculate the calibration coefficient value as a function of zenith angle as well as the cosine response presented by the radiometer. The calibration results obtained by this method were compared with those obtained with a Brewer MKIII SN 80 located in the city of Punta Arenas, Chile using the sun as a source. These results show us that the proposed method is a viable alternative for developing countries that use instrumentation of this type and find it difficult to apply calibration programs on a regular basis.