Field measurements of the global UV-B radiation: a comparison between a broad-band radiometer and a Brewer spectrophotometer

Summary The spectral responsivity shape plays an important role in the prospect of a wide use of broad-band meters in the UV-B monitoring. As most UV-B broad-band meters have a responsivity approximating an erythemal action spectrum, a measurement campaign was planned to verify if such an instrument could be successfully used to measure the unfiltered global irradiance. A Yankee radiometer mod. UV-B 1 and a Brewer spectrophotometer, considered as a reference meter, were compared for this purpose. A short theoretical treatment of the Yankee radiometer response and some results of the comparison are shown. Only clear-sky days data are selected so that the UV-B radiation reaching the ground could be modelled as the sum of the direct and the isotropic diffuse components. The comparison results show a good agreement between the two instruments and confirm the capability of a broad-band UV-B radiometer of correctly measuring the global irradiance.