Novel use of an adapted ultraviolet double monochromator for measurements of global and direct irradiance, ozone, and aerosol

Abstract

A novel ultraviolet spectrometer has been developed and tested over 10 years at Lauder, New Zealand. The system, UV2, makes alternating measurements of the global and direct UV irradiance and can therefore be used to measure ozone and aerosol optical depth. After an analysis of the stability of UV2, these measurements, along with UV irradiance, are compared to relevant observations made by an additional UV spectrometer (UV4), a Dobson spectrophotometer (no. 072), and two radiometers measuring aerosol optical depth – a Prede sky radiometer and a Middleton Solar radiometer (SP02). UV2 irradiance is shown to be lower than UV4 by between 2.5 % and 3.5 %, with a standard deviation of a similar magnitude. Total column ozone values are shown to agree with Dobson spectrophotometer values with a mean bias of 2.57 Dobson units (DU) and standard deviation of 1.15 DU when using the direct sun measurements. Aerosol optical depth at 400–412 and 500 nm agrees to within 0.015 and is comparable to the difference between the reference radiometers. Further work is needed, particularly in the radiometric calibration at longer wavelengths, in order to determine if this instrument can supersede or enhance measurements made by the Dobson spectrophotometer or the aerosol radiometers.