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Europe’s darker atmosphere in the UV-B

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Abstract

Irradiation in the ultraviolet wavelength range is found to be up to 50% lower in the European summer compared to sites with comparable latitudes in New Zealand. We have developed a method to quantitatively attribute the causes for such differences between sites by analysis of spectra. We conclude that these large differences are caused mainly by differences in total ozone, cloudiness, aerosol loading and Sun Earth separation. The relative contribution of clouds varies from year to year and it is site dependent. Averaged over several years we find a strong latitudinal gradient of the cloud impact within Europe, with much less cloud attenuation in southern Europe. Due to the differences in total ozone and aerosol loading, the UV-B levels are generally lower in Europe compared to New Zealand. It is likely that inter-hemispheric differences will change in coming decades due to a combination of changes in ozone concentrations, air pollution and cloudiness as a result of climate change. However, since the future evolution of these major parameters is highly uncertain, the magnitude and even the sign of such changes are not known yet.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Meteorology and Climatology, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany

    Gunther Seckmeyer, Merle Glandorf & Cordula Wichers

  2. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, NIWA Lauder, PB 50061, Omakau, Central Otago, New Zealand

    Richard McKenzie

  3. Instituto de Meteorologia, Lisboa, Portugal

    Diamantino Henriques & Fernanda Carvalho

  4. School of Earth Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, UK

    Ann Webb

  5. Universita di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy

    Anna-Maria Siani

  6. Laboratory of Atmospheric Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

    Alkiviadis Bais

  7. Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Berit Kjeldstad

  8. Laboratoire d’Optique Atmosphèrique, France

    Colette Brogniez

  9. Research Center Karlsruhe, Germany

    Peter Werle

  10. Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Tapani Koskela & Kaisa Lakkala

  11. Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center (PMOD/WRC), Switzerland

    Julian Gröbner

  12. National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Harry Slaper

  13. German Weather Service (DWD), Lindenberg, Germany

    Peter denOuter & Uwe Feister

Authors
  1. Gunther Seckmeyer
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  2. Merle Glandorf
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  3. Cordula Wichers
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  4. Richard McKenzie
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  5. Diamantino Henriques
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  6. Fernanda Carvalho
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  7. Ann Webb
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  8. Anna-Maria Siani
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  9. Alkiviadis Bais
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  10. Berit Kjeldstad
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  11. Colette Brogniez
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  12. Peter Werle
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  13. Tapani Koskela
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  14. Kaisa Lakkala
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  15. Julian Gröbner
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  16. Harry Slaper
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  17. Peter denOuter
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  18. Uwe Feister
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Seckmeyer, G., Glandorf, M., Wichers, C. et al. Europe’s darker atmosphere in the UV-B. Photochem Photobiol Sci 7, 925–930 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1039/b804109a

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/b804109a

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