Surface UV radiation environment over the Antarctic: Role of surface and cloud processes

• Main Authors: Gautier,Catherine, Ricchiazzi, Paul, Yang, Shiren
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California Santa Barbara/Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California Santa Barbara/Institute for Computational Earth System Science, University of California Santa Barbara 1998
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Memoirs of National Institute of Polar Research; Polar Research
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=2318; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00002318/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=2318&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

This paper presents a review of a body of research regarding the UV environment over Antarctica. In particular, it explores the role of surface and cloud processes and their coupling on the highly variable UV radiation field. The main results of this research are that : (1) clouds may play a role on mitigating the effects of ozone decrease on the UV radiation through coupling with surface processes due to multiple reflections between the surface and clouds, (2) mapping of UV from space is still limited by our inability to detect clouds over highly reflective surfaces and (3) cloud-surface reflection interaction can affect both satellite and surface data interpretation in coastal regions due to multiple reflections between clouds and surface processes.