Analysis and interpretation of Aerosol Optical Depth values retrieved from a Brewer spectrophotometer at Uccle, Belgium
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Authors
De Bock, Veerle
Discipline
Earth and related Environmental sciences
Audience
Scientific
Date
2018-10-22Publisher
ULB
Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
The first part of this PhD describes an adapted and improved method for the retrieval of AOD
values using sun scan measurements from a Brewer spectrophotometer at 340 nm at Uccle.
The retrieved AOD values are subjected to a cloud screening technique and are compared to
quasi simultaneous, collocated CIMEL AOD values. The good agreement between both
instruments highlights that the Brewer is largely sensitive to AOD at 340 nm and it justifies its
use in sun scan mode to expand the AOD retrieval network of instruments. The monthly and
seasonal behavior of the retrieved AOD values is also studied in this work and our results
agree with results found in literature.
The second part of this work focuses on the relation between the erythemal UV dose, global
solar radiation, total ozone column and AOD (at 320 nm) at Uccle. Simultaneous
measurements of these variables are available at Uccle for a time period of 25 years (1991–
2015) and this time series is long enough to allow for reliable determination of significant
changes. Different analysis techniques are combined to allow for an extensive study of the
relations between the variables. First, a change point analysis is performed to determine
whether there are sudden changes in our time series (of either natural or instrumental origin).
Linear trends are calculated for the monthly anomalies time series of the variables and
changes in the minimum and maximum values and in the frequency distribution are also
investigated. Finally, a multiple linear regression technique is applied to investigate the
relation between the erythemal UV dose, global solar radiation, total ozone and AOD (at 320
nm) at Uccle in order to increase our understanding of observed changes in UV radiation at
Uccle.
Identifiers
Type
Doctoral thesis
Peer-Review
No
Language
eng