The atmosphere protects humans, plants, ani- mals, and microorganisms from damaging doses of ultra- violet-B (UVB) solar radiation (280-320 nm) because it modifies the UVB reaching the Earth's surface. This modif...The atmosphere protects humans, plants, ani- mals, and microorganisms from damaging doses of ultra- violet-B (UVB) solar radiation (280-320 nm) because it modifies the UVB reaching the Earth's surface. This modification is a function of the solar radiation's path length through the atmosphere and the amount of each attenuator along the path length. The path length is deter- mined by solar zenith angle (SZA). The present work ex- plains the dependence of hemispherical transmittance of UVB on SZA. The database used consists of five years of hourly UVB and global solar radiation measurements. From 2001 to 2005, the South Valley University (SVU) meteorological research station (26.20°N, 32.75°E) car- ried out these measurements on a horizontal surface. In addition, the corresponding extraterrestrial UVB (UVBe^d and broadband solar radiation (Gext) were estimated. Consequently, the hemispherical transmittance of UVB (KtuvB) and the hemispherical transmittance of global solar radiation (Kt) were estimated. Furthermore, the UVB redaction due to the atmosphere was evaluated. An analy- sis of the dependence between KtuvB and SZA at different ranges of Kt was performed. A functional dependence between KtuvB and SZA (KtuvB=-a(SZA)+b) for very narrow Kt-ranges (width of ranges was 0.01) was devel- oped. The results are discussed, and the sensitivity of AKtuvB to △SZA for very narrow Kt-ranges was studied. It was found that the sensitivity of △KtUVB to ASZA slightly increases with increased Kt, which means KtuvB is sensi- tive to SZA as Kt increases. The maximum correlation (R) between KtuvB and SZA was equal to -0.83 for Kt= 0.76.展开更多
基金supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research from King Saud University
文摘The atmosphere protects humans, plants, ani- mals, and microorganisms from damaging doses of ultra- violet-B (UVB) solar radiation (280-320 nm) because it modifies the UVB reaching the Earth's surface. This modification is a function of the solar radiation's path length through the atmosphere and the amount of each attenuator along the path length. The path length is deter- mined by solar zenith angle (SZA). The present work ex- plains the dependence of hemispherical transmittance of UVB on SZA. The database used consists of five years of hourly UVB and global solar radiation measurements. From 2001 to 2005, the South Valley University (SVU) meteorological research station (26.20°N, 32.75°E) car- ried out these measurements on a horizontal surface. In addition, the corresponding extraterrestrial UVB (UVBe^d and broadband solar radiation (Gext) were estimated. Consequently, the hemispherical transmittance of UVB (KtuvB) and the hemispherical transmittance of global solar radiation (Kt) were estimated. Furthermore, the UVB redaction due to the atmosphere was evaluated. An analy- sis of the dependence between KtuvB and SZA at different ranges of Kt was performed. A functional dependence between KtuvB and SZA (KtuvB=-a(SZA)+b) for very narrow Kt-ranges (width of ranges was 0.01) was devel- oped. The results are discussed, and the sensitivity of AKtuvB to △SZA for very narrow Kt-ranges was studied. It was found that the sensitivity of △KtUVB to ASZA slightly increases with increased Kt, which means KtuvB is sensi- tive to SZA as Kt increases. The maximum correlation (R) between KtuvB and SZA was equal to -0.83 for Kt= 0.76.