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Daily broad-band ultra-violet radiation observations using biologically effective UVR detectors

Entry ID: ARPANSA_BIO

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Summary

Abstract: This dataset also forms part of the set of State of the Environment (SOE) indicators.

INDICATOR DEFINITION
Daily measurements of solar Ultra-Violet radiation at Casey and Davis stations, reported in units of standard erythemal dose (SED).

TYPE OF INDICATOR
There are three types of indicators used in this report:
1.Describes the CONDITION of important elements of a system;
2.Show the extent of ...

Related URL

Link: GET DATA

Description: Download point for the data - .dat files and excel spreadsheet

Geographic Coverage

(Click for Interactive Map)

Spatial coordinates

N: -54.55

S: -54.65

E: 158.9

W: 158.8

N: -66.25

S: -66.35

E: 110.55

W: 110.45

N: -67.55

S: -67.65

E: 62.94

W: 62.84

N: -68.55

S: -68.65

E: 78.0

W: 77.9

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1997-09-01

Location Keywords

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > MACQUARIE ISLAND

CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA

Science Keywords

ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE > AIR TEMPERATURE

ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION > ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION

ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY > OXYGEN COMPOUNDS > OZONE

ISO Topic Category

BIOTA

CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE

Platform

FIXED OBSERVATION STATIONS

Instrument

AAS > Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry

Quality The amount of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) reaching the ground is controlled by physical factors including the height of the sun in the sky, time of day, cloud cover, ozone concentrations overhead and reflectance at the surface by ice and snow (albedo). In Antarctica, the combination of these factors leads to erythemal irradiances higher than those experienced in the tropics.

The ... energy of solar radiation, and thus its capacity to damage life in Antarctica, increases with decreasing wavelength. Ozone depletion specifically enhances the shorter wavelengths of the UV spectrum (UVB 280 to 320 nm). Measurements of solar UVR in the past have generally been of either UVR (280 to 400 nm) or more importantly, UVB (280 to 315 nm); these lower wavelengths are very effective in producing damaging biological effects. More recently, in order to relate UV flux measurements to human health, biologically effective UVR is measured using a radiometer that approximates the response of human skin to different wavelengths of UVR. This erythemal spectral effectiveness was defined by the Commission Internationale d E'clairage (International Lighting Commission - CIE) in 1987. The units are minimal erythemal doses (MED) where 1 MED is the amount of UVR required to induce erythema or sunburn in people with sensitive skin.

Ten-minute readings are added together to provide an indication of the total UVR incident at the surface each day. Daily readings of biologically effective solar UVR is in standard erythemal doses (SEDs : 1 SED is 100 J/m2 effective).

For quality-controlled data, the trends in UV can be analysed and compared with those in ozone. The interannual variability due to variations in ozone, cloudiness and other atmospheric parameters needs to be accounted for.

These data (Mawson in particular) could be subject to change upon revision of the calibrations at a future date. Unfortunately there is a large gap in the data from Davis.

2010-10-12
There are currently some data gaps for Mawson and Macquarie Island. The Macquarie Island instrument failed in November 2007 and Mawson failed in December 2007. The replacement equipment was installed in late April 2008. Due to ARPANSA IT issues connection to the instruments took some time.

Note that the most recent excel spreadsheet stored in the download file will be the most accurate, and should be used in preference to all other excel spreadsheets, or .dat data.

Access Constraints These data can be viewed at the URL given below for 'Display Antarctic State of Environment Indicator 10', or alternatively, downloaded as a file from the provided URL. The download file contains a number of zipped .dat files and two excel spreadsheets, one for data as it stood in mid-2007, and one for data as it stood in mid-2008.

Use Constraints This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ARPANSA_BIO when using these data.

Ancillary Keywords

BIOLOGICALLY WEIGHTED

BIOMETER

Data Set Progress

COMPLETE

Data Center

THE OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY (ORNL) DISTRIBUTED ACTIVE ARCHIVE CENTER (DAAC)

Data Center URL: http://daac.ornl.gov/
Dataset ID: 208

Data Center Personnel
Name: ORNL DAAC USER SERVICES OFFICE Phone: (865) 574-7447 Email: uso at daac.ornl.gov Contact Address: ORNL DAAC User Services Office Oak Ridge National Laboratory City: Oak Ridge Province or State: TN Postal Code: 37831-6407 Country: USA