MEASUREMENTS OF SOLAR MIDDLE ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION IN A DESERT ENVIRONMENT

Abstract— In this study measurements are reported that were carried out between August 1983 and December 1985 on the solar middle ultraviolet radiation (UVB-280-320 nm) in Kuwait (29.5°N). These measurements are based primarily on polysulfone film detectors. Comparative measurements were also made on a Robertson-Berger meter and a spectroradiometer. The results reported include the daily variation of the solar UVB between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon over the year, the diurnal variation, as well as the amount of UVB as a function of the receiving angle with the horizontal.
Based on these data the polysulfone films were found to be reliable and inexpensive detectors, giving results similar to those of the R-B meter. The diurnal variation of the solar UVB was found to vary as sin2q, where q is an angle that corresponds to the time since sunrise compared to the sunrise-sunset interval times 180. An empirical equation is developed that gives the maximum UVB as a function of the time of day and day of year. A correlation is determined of the polysulfone readings with the spectroradiometric and the R-B meter measurements. The solar insolation was found to be independent of the receiving angle with the horizontal in the winter months and develops into a cosine dependence in the summer months.