Correlative Study between UV Irradiance and TOC Using AURA OMI at Kannur (12.3N, 75.4E)

Nishanth T., Sheela M. Joseph, Praseed K. M., M. K. Satheesh Kumar

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DOI: 10.4236/acs.2011.12006                

Abstract

The solar UV radiation has prominent impacts on human life, animals and plants with positive and negative effects. Atmospheric ozone, which is formed from the photodissociation of molecular oxygen mainly in the stratosphere, absorbs a significant factor of solar UV radiation. The ozone in the stratosphere acts as a protective layer to prevent UV radiation reaching on the surface of the earth. Hence the intensity of solar UV radiation on the surface has a strong dependence on the Total Ozone Column (TOC). The UV irradiance on earth surface depends on geometrical factors such as solar zenith angle, altitude, latitude and other atmospheric parameters as well. This is an attempt to study the variation of solar UV flux at its four discrete wavelengths ranging from 305 - 380 nm at Kannur, which is located in the north of Kerala in India. Hence such a correlation of TOC and UV irradiance is relevant to realize the radiation budget at this location (12.3N, 75.4E) using AURA OMI data. This paper reveals the correlation of day to day, month to month temporal variation of total ozone column (in DU) and UV irradiance (w/m2). From the analysis, the anti-correlation between UV and TOC is revealed and its impact in the solar radiation budget is established.

Keywords

UV Irradiance, Aura OMI, Total Ozone Column, Sun Burn

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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