Observations of the solar UV irradiance and ozone column at Svalbard
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2019 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Svalbard is located in a region where the typical harsh polar climate is disturbed by the Gulfstream, which transports warm water masses from the tropics. As a result, the role of dynamical processes in the atmosphere tends to enhance the variability of the atmospheric transmittance and thus, the variability of the solar radiation reaching the surface. On the basis of the instrument intercomparison, it can be stated that all measurements in Ny-Alesund, Hornsund and Longyearbyen are directly comparable at solar zenith angles < 80°. The investigation of 20 years of UV measurements in Ny-Alesund and Hornsund revealed a correlation coefficient between the two measurement series of 0.81, with an excellent agreement regarding the long-period (> 120 d) components (R=0.99), while the short-term variations are less correlated and about 20% larger in Hornsund than in Ny-Alesund. The achieved results helped to outline the main features of the surface UV irradiance and ozone behaviour at Svalbard but, on the other hand, they assume a variety of unanswered questions that need additional study in the future. |
| Related projects: |