Abstract
Abstract. Long term changes in solar UV radiation affect global bio-geochemistry and climate. The satellite-based dataset of TOMS (Total Ozone Monitoring System) and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) of erythemal UV product was applied for the first time to estimate the long-term ultraviolet (UV) changes at the global scale. The analysis of the uncertainty related to the different input information is presented. OMI and GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2) products were compared in order to analyse the differences in the global UV distribution and their effect on the linear trend estimation. The results showed that the differences in the inputs (mainly surface albedo and aerosol information) used in the retrieval, affect significantly the UV change calculation, pointing out the importance of using a consistent dataset when calculating long term UV changes. The areas where these differences played a major role were identified using global maps of monthly UV changes. Despite the uncertainties, significant positive UV changes (ranging from 0 to about 5 %/decade) were observed, with higher values in the Southern Hemisphere at mid-latitudes during spring-summer, where the largest ozone decrease was observed.
Highlights
The amount of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation (200–400 nm) reaching the Earth’s surface is affected by atmospheric ozone absorption, cloudiness and aerosols together with solar zenith angle (SZA) and surface albedo
Erythemal dose rate (EDR), or erythemal irradiance, is one of the parameters used to estimate the damaging effects of solar UV radiation and is defined as the incoming solar radiation on a horizontal surface weighted with the erythemal action spectrum over the whole UV range (Diffey and McKinlay, 1987)
Larger variability was observed over the Southern Hemisphere (SH); this is significant over the tropical regions
Summary
The amount of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation (200–400 nm) reaching the Earth’s surface is affected by atmospheric ozone absorption, cloudiness and aerosols together with solar zenith angle (SZA) and surface albedo. The presence of clouds and aerosols decreases the amount of radiation reaching the surface (Herman, 2010a). Changes in UV radiation at the surface may strongly affect human health and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (UNEP, 2007). Erythemal dose rate (EDR), or erythemal irradiance, is one of the parameters used to estimate the damaging effects of solar UV radiation and is defined as the incoming solar radiation on a horizontal surface weighted with the erythemal action spectrum over the whole UV range (Diffey and McKinlay, 1987). Herman (2010b) used an improved radiation amplification factor to estimate the effect of total ozone changes on action spectrum weighted irradiances
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