Arctic Space Centre and Sodankylä Space Campus, News

World reference UV spectroradiometer visited Sodankylä

Franz Zeilinger and Gregor Hülsen from PMOD/WRC are calibrating the reference UV spectroradiometer. Picture: Kaisa Lakkala (FMI).

From 28 May until 2 June, we have an intensive UV comparison campaign at the Arctic Space Centre. The world reference UV spectroradiometer from the PMOD / World Radiation Center in Davos, Switzerland, has traveled all the way up north, and is now installed on the measurement platform at Sodankylä. Local UV spectroradiometers and radiometers are compared against this reference instrument.

Measurements are taken every half an hour from sunrise to sunset, which means 24 hours of data as the midnight sun period started. The objective of this activity is to assess the quality of the station’s UV data in view of harmonizing UV measurement around the world. 

This comparison is the fifth since 2003. The reports are available from https://www.pmodwrc.ch/en/world-radiation-center-2/wcc-uv/qasume-site-audits/. Next week starting 5 June, the world reference will visit FMI’s Helsinki site.

In Finland, solar UV radiation is measured at 7 sites, but only Sodankylä and Helsinki are equipped with a spectral instrument. The spectral UV time series of Sodankylä is one of the longest homogenized time series in the Arctic. Measurements started in 1990.  Real time UV data can be viewed together with the UV index forecast at https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/uv-index.

More information:

Dr. Kaisa Lakkala, FMI, kaisa.lakkala@fmi.fi

Dr. Gregor Hülsen, PMOD/WRC, Gregor.Huelsen@pmodwrc.ch

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