Erythemal UV Dose and UV Index Measurement at 37th North Latitude and Its Possible Effects on Humans

In this study, UV irradiance and UV erythemal and UV index data of May, June, July and August measured in Adana (longitute=36 E, latitute=37 N altitute=140m) between 2013 and 2019 were analyzed. As a result of the analysis, the average of four months was 14.16 MED (2.9736 J/m2) and the highest value of these four months was calculated as 15.6 MED (3.276 J/m2) in July. The percentage frequency of the total daily UV dose was also calculated and it was determined that the region was under the effect of 70-80% high UV dose. In addition, it was calculated to have a high UV index according to local time (10.00-14.00). It was concluded that this situation poses a great risk for workers working in agricultural areas in the region and for people who spend their summer holidays by the sea. UV Dose-Ozone, UV Dose-temperature, UV Dose-humidity and Ozone-temperature correlations were also calculated. As a result of the comparison, it was found that there was an R= -0.64 correlation between UV-ozone, an R= -1.00 correlation between temperature and ozone, and a direct correlation of R= 0.60 between UV radiation and temperature.

Variability and trends in surface solar spectral ultraviolet irradiance in Italy: on the influence of geopotential height and lower-stratospheric ozone

The short- and long-term variability of the surface spectral solar ultraviolet (UV) irradiance is investigated across Italy using high-quality ground-based measurements from three locations: Aosta (45.7∘ N, 7.4∘ E, 570 m a.s.l.), Rome (41.9∘ N, 12.5∘ E, 15 75 m a.s.l.), and Lampedusa (35.5∘ N, 12.6∘ E, 50 m a.s.l.). The three sites are characterized by different environmental conditions and represent almost the full latitudinal extent of the Italian territory. Data of two periods were analysed: 2006–2020 (all sites) and 1996–2020 (Rome only). The main objective of this study is to quantify the effect of the geopotential height (GPH) at 250 hPa on total ozone, and spectral irradiance at 307.5 and 324 nm. We first show that monthly anomalies in GPH, total ozone, and spectral irradiances are correlated amongst the three sites, suggesting that Italy is often affected by the same synoptical weather systems. We further find statistically significant anticorrelations between GPH and monthly anomalies in total ozone for all stations and months. Conversely, we identify positive correlations between GPH and monthly anomalies in spectral irradiance at 307.5 nm for most months. The influence of GPH on short-term variability also hold for long-term trends. For example, long-term changes in total ozone over the period 2006–2020 were associated with changes in GPH for all stations. This suggests that observed negative trends in total ozone were mainly driven by changes in lower-stratospheric ozone as upper-stratospheric ozone was increasing over this period. For several months of the year, positive trends in UV irradiance were observed, and we found that these trends were predominantly caused by changes in clouds and/or aerosols instead of total ozone. For the longer period of 1996–2020, a statistically significant annualized decrease in total ozone of ∼ 0.1 % per year was identified for Rome and could subsequently be attributed to decreasing lower-stratospheric ozone. While positive trends in spectral irradiance at 307.5 nm were observed for several months of this extended period, the negative trend in total ozone did not lead to a positive trend in the spectral irradiance at 307.5 nm in the deseasonalized data. Our study provides evidence that dynamical processes taking place in the troposphere lead to significant variability in total ozone and surface solar UV irradiance.

Origin of the Solar Rotation Harmonics Seen in the EUV and UV Irradiance

Long-term periodicities in the solar irradiance are often observed with periods proportional to the solar rotational period of 27 days. These periods are linked either to some internal mechanism in the Sun or said to be higher harmonics of the rotation without further discussion of their origin. In this article, the origin of the peaks in periodicities seen in the solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiance around the 7, 9, and 14 days periods is discussed. Maps of the active regions and coronal holes are produced from six images per day using the Spatial Possibilistic Clustering Algorithm (SPoCA), a segmentation algorithm. Spectral irradiance at coronal, transition-region/chromospheric, and photospheric levels are extracted for each feature as well as for the full disk by applying the maps to full-disk images (at 19.3, 30.4, and 170 nm sampling in the corona/hot flare plasma, the chromosphere/transition region, and the photosphere, respectively) from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) from January 2011 to December 2018. The peaks in periodicities at 7, 9, and 14 days as well as the solar rotation around 27 days can be seen in almost all of the solar irradiance time series. The segmentation also provided time series of the active regions and coronal holes visible area (i.e. in the area observed in the AIA images, not corrected for the line-of-sight effect with respect to the solar surface), which also show similar peaks in periodicities, indicating that the periodicities are due to the change in area of the features on the solar disk rather than to their absolute irradiance. A simple model was created to reproduce the power spectral density of the area covered by active regions also showing the same peaks in periodicities. Segmentation of solar images allows us to determine that the peaks in periodicities seen in solar EUV/UV irradiance from a few days to a month are due to the change in area of the solar features, in particular, active regions, as they are the main contributors to the total full-disk irradiance variability. The higher harmonics of the solar rotation are caused by the clipping of the area signal as the regions rotate behind the solar limb.

Variability and trends of the surface solar spectral ultraviolet irradiance in Italy: a possible influence of lower and upper stratospheric ozone trends

In this study the short- and long-term variability of the surface spectral solar ultraviolet (UV) irradiance are investigated over Italy using high quality ground based measurements from three sites located at quite different environmental conditions, and covering the full latitudinal extent of the Italian territory: Aosta (45.7° N, 7.4° E, 570 m a.s.l.), Rome (41.9° N, 12.5° E, 75 m a.s.l.), and Lampedusa (35.5° N, 12.6° E, 50 m a.s.l.). The variability of the irradiances at 307.5 nm, 324 nm, and of the ratio between the 307.5 nm and the 324 nm irradiances were investigated with respect to the corresponding variability in total ozone and the geopotential height at 250 hPa (GPH). The study was performed for two periods: 2006–2020 for all stations, and 1996–2020 only for Rome. A statistically significant correlation between the GPH and total ozone monthly anomalies was found for all stations and all seasons of the year. A corresponding statistically significant correlation was also found in most cases between the GPH and the 307.5 nm irradiance monthly anomalies. The correlation between GPH anomalies at different sites was statistically significant, possibly explaining the strong and significant correlation between the total ozone monthly anomalies at the three sites. A statistically significant decrease of total ozone, of ~0.1 %/year was found for Rome for the period 1996–2020, which however did not induce increasing trends in irradiance at 307.5 nm (neither increasing trends in the ratio between the 307.5 nm and the 324 nm irradiances) at SZA = 67°. Further analyses revealed positive trends in the ratio and the 307.5 nm irradiance at smaller solar zenith angles (SZA), which can be attributed to the fact that total ozone decrease is driven by a decrease in the lower stratosphere while upper stratospheric ozone increases, and the effect of changes of upper stratospheric ozone becoming disproportionately larger for increasing SZA. It was also showed that long-term changes in total ozone follow changes in GPH, which is an additional indication that negative trends in total ozone are mainly driven by changes in lower stratospheric ozone. An anti-correlation between the GPH long-term changes and total ozone was also evident for all stations in 2006–2020. Positive trends in UV irradiance for this latter period which were possibly driven by changes in clouds and/or aerosols were found for Rome and Aosta. This study clearly points out the significance of dynamical processes which take place in the troposphere for the variability of total ozone and surface solar UV irradiance.

Impacts of UV Irradiance and Medium-Energy Electron Precipitation on the North Atlantic Oscillation during the 11-Year Solar Cycle

Observational studies suggest that part of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) variability may be attributed to the spectral ultra-violet (UV) irradiance variations associated to the 11-year solar cycle. The observed maximum surface pressure response in the North Atlantic occurs 2–4 years after solar maximum, and some model studies have identified that atmosphere–ocean feedbacks explain the multi-year lag. Alternatively, medium-to-high energy electron (MEE) precipitation, which peaks in the declining phase of the solar cycle, has been suggested as a potential cause of this lag. We use a coupled (ocean–atmosphere) climate prediction model and a state-of-the-art MEE forcing to explore the respective roles of irradiance and MEE precipitation on the NAO variability. Three decadal ensemble experiments were conducted over solar cycle 23 in an idealized setting. We found a weak ensemble-mean positive NAO response to the irradiance. The simulated signal-to-noise ratio remained very small, indicating the predominance of internal NAO variability. The lack of multi-annual lag in the NAO response was likely due to lagged solar signals imprinted in temperatures below the oceanic mixed-layer re-emerging equatorward of the oceanic frontal zones, which anchor ocean–atmosphere feedbacks. While there is a clear, yet weak, signature from UV irradiance in the atmosphere and upper ocean over the North Atlantic, enhanced MEE precipitation on the other hand does not lead to any systematic changes in the stratospheric circulation, despite its marked chemical signatures.

Rethinking the correction for absorbing aerosols in the OMI- and TROPOMI-like surface UV algorithms

Satellite estimates of surface UV irradiance have been available since 1978 from the TOMS UV spectrometer and have continued with significantly improved ground resolution using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI 2004–current) and Sentinel 5 Precursor (S5P 2017–current). The surface UV retrieval algorithm remains essentially the same: it first estimates the clear-sky UV irradiance based on measured ozone and then accounts for the attenuation by clouds and aerosols, applying two consecutive correction factors. When estimating the total aerosol effect in surface UV irradiance, there are two major classes of aerosols to be considered: (1) aerosols that only scatter UV radiation and (2) aerosols that both scatter and absorb UV radiation. The former effect is implicitly included in the measured effective Lambertian-equivalent scene reflectivity (LER), so the scattering aerosol influence is estimated through cloud correction factor. Aerosols that absorb UV radiation attenuate the surface UV radiation more strongly than non-absorbing aerosols of the same extinction optical depth. Moreover, since these aerosols also attenuate the outgoing satellite-measured radiance, the cloud correction factor that treats these aerosols as purely scattering underestimates their aerosol optical depth (AOD), causing underestimation of LER and overestimation of surface UV irradiance. Therefore, for correction of aerosol absorption, additional information is needed, such as a model-based monthly climatology of aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD). A correction for absorbing aerosols was proposed almost a decade ago and later implemented in the operational OMI and TROPOMI UV algorithms. In this study, however, we show that there is still room for improvement to better account for the solar zenith angle (SZA) dependence and nonlinearity in the absorbing aerosol attenuation, and as a result we propose an improved correction scheme. There are two main differences between the new proposed correction and the one that is currently operational in OMI and TROPOMI UV algorithms. First, the currently operational correction for absorbing aerosols is a function of AAOD only, while the new correction additionally takes the solar zenith angle dependence into account. Second, the second-order polynomial of the new correction takes the nonlinearity in the correction as a function of AAOD better into account, if compared to the currently operational one, and thus better describes the effect by absorbing aerosols over a larger range of AAOD. To illustrate the potential impact of the new correction in the global UV estimates, we applied the current and new proposed correction for global fields of AAOD from the aerosol climatology currently used in OMI UV algorithm, showing a typical differences of ±5 %. This new correction is easy to implement operationally using information of solar zenith angle and existing AAOD climatology.

Influence of cosmic weather on the Earth’s atmosphere

The review generalizes experimental data on the relationships between the solar activity agents (space weather) and atmosphere constituents. It is shown that high-energy solar protons (SPE) make a powerful impact on photo-chemical processes in the polar areas and, correspondingly, on atmospheric circulation and planetary cloudiness. Variations of the solar UV irradiance modulate the descent rate of the zonal wind in the equatorial stratosphere in the course of quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), and thus control the total duration (period) of the QBO cycle and, correspondingly, the seasonal ozone depletion in the Antarctic. The geo-effective solar wind impacts on the atmospheric wind system in the entire Southern Polar region, and influences the dynamics of the Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

RSM-Based Optimization of the Parameters Affecting TiO2-Mediated UV Photocatalysis of Vehicular Emissions in Enclosed Parking Garages

In the preceding times, the number of enclosed parking garages has increased significantly in developing nations. The toxic emissions from vehicular exhausts are expected to drastically compromise the environmental conditions of the parking garages. Subsequently, exposure of humans to these accumulated pollutants is also expected to degrade their health. Therefore, in the present investigation, efforts were made to estimate the applicability of TiO2-mediated UV photocatalysis in degrading the concentration of vehicular emissions, viz., NOx and SO2, in the enclosed parking garages (EPGs). In this regard, an artificial EPGs’ environment was created and experiments were designed using the Box-Behnken design in combination with response surface methodology. The process parameters chosen for maximizing the degradation of the pollutants were a concentration of TiO2 emulsion (20 to 120 ml/m2), UV irradiance (1 to 5 mW/cm2), and relative humidity (10 to 50%). Optimization of the laboratory experiments revealed that at optimal conditions of the process parameters, i.e., a concentration of TiO2 emulsion = 77.50 ml / m 2 , intensity of UV irradiance = 3 mW / c m 2 , and relative humidity = 43.2 % , maximum degradation of the NOx and SO2, i.e., 61.24% and 55.05%, respectively, was achieved. Further, it was revealed that relative humidity may prove to be the limiting factor while using the TiO2-mediated UV photocatalysis in humid areas. Findings of this study may prove beneficial in urban planning as it may assist scientific auditory and local authorities in identifying the applicability of TiO2-based photocatalysis in mitigating the impacts of vehicular emissions.