Intercomparison of spectroradiometers and Sun photometers for the determination of the aerosol optical depth during the VELETA-2002 field campaign

2006

In July 2002 the VELETA-2002 field campaign was held in Sierra Nevada (Granada) in the south of Spain. The main objectives of this field campaign were the study of the influence of elevation and atmospheric aerosols on measured UV radiation. In the first stage of the field campaign, a common calibration and intercomparison between Licor-1800 spectroradiometers and Cimel-318 Sun photometers was performed in order to assess the quality of the measurements from the whole campaign. The intercomparison of the Licor spectroradiometers showed, for both direct and global irradiances, that when the comparisons were restricted to the visible part of the spectrum the deviations were within the instrum…

Aerosol radiative forcing efficiency in the UV region over southeastern Mediterranean: VELETA2002 campaign

2007

Atmospheric aerosol effects on spectral global UV irradiance were evaluated during the VELETA2002 field campaign between 8 and 19 July 2002 in southeast Spain. In the first stage, seven UV spectroradiometer and six CIMEL Sun photometer measurements were carried out simultaneously, allowing them to be calibrated and intercompared. The mean ratio obtained for the global irradiance between the spectroradiometers, with regards to a reference instrument, ranges from 0.98 up to 1.04 with standard deviations that oscillate between ±0.01 and ±0.17. In particular, the two spectroradiometers used to obtain the aerosol forcing efficiencies have a ratio of 1.000 ± 0.001. The aerosol optical depth (AOD)…

Comparison of top of the atmosphere GERB measured radiances with independent radiative transfer simulations obtained at the Valencia Anchor Station a…

2005

The purpose of this work is to compare top of the atmosphere (TOA) radiances as measured by the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument on board the METEOSAT-8 (METEOSAT Second Generation) satellite to equivalent independent radiances obtained from radiative transfer simulations performed using surface and atmospheric measured parameters gathered during the GERB Surface Ground Validation Campaign at the Valencia Anchor Station (VAS) reference area in February 2004. In this paper we try to extend the methodology previously developed and tested for the NASA Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument in the framework of the SEVIRI and GERB Cal/val Area for L…

Comparison of aerosol size distributions measured at ground level and calculated from inversion of solar radiances

2005

Ground-based sunphotometry measurements can be used to investigate atmospheric aerosol optical properties, such as the volume size distribution, an important parameter in the study of the effect of aerosol on atmospheric processes. Most inversion algorithms assume constant aerosol optical characteristics over the whole air column. In this work we present observational evidence of the limitations of this simplifying assumption in cases where the aerosol vertical structure is highly inhomogeneous. During the field campaign VELETA 2002, carried out in Granada (Spain), a quite complete characterization of the atmospheric aerosol was obtained by simultaneously measuring the columnar aerosol char…

Altitude effect in UV radiation during the Evaluation of the Effects of Elevation and Aerosols on the Ultraviolet Radiation 2002 (VELETA-2002) field …

2008

[1] The Evaluation of the Effects of Elevation and Aerosols on the Ultraviolet Radiation 2002 (VELETA-2002) field campaign was designed to study the influence of aerosols and altitude on solar UV irradiance. The altitude effect (AE) was evaluated for UV irradiance under cloudless conditions by taking spectral and broadband measurements in SE Spain in the summer of 2002 at three nearby sites located at different heights (680 m, 2200 m, and 3398 m). A spectral radiative transfer model (Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART)) was also applied, mainly to evaluate the tropospheric ozone impact on AE. Results are related to the optical properties and air mass origin of the a…

Atmospheric aerosol changes in the vertical followed by sunphotomteres and telephotometers during VELETA 2002

2004

Aerosol columnar properties retrieved from CIMEL radiometers during VELETA 2002

2008

During the 2002 summer, the VELETA 2002 field campaign has been carried out at the Sierra Nevada Massif, close to Granada in South-Eastern Spain. During the campaign, CIMEL CE-318 robotic radiometer has been one of the key instruments in the characterization of the atmospheric aerosol columnar properties. This kind of radiometers have been operated at Motril, a coastal location at sea level, Pitres (1200 m a.s.l.), located in the South slope of Sierra Nevada Massif, Las Sabinas (2200m a.s.l.), located on the north slope of the mountain range, and Armilla (680m a.s.l.), located in the valley. The principal feature of the locations is that they provide a strong altitudinal gradient. This work…