The research group ‘Física de la Atmósfera’ of the Universidad de Granada, coordinated by Lucas Alados Arboledas, is immersed in different work lines to characterize the radioactive effect of clouds or dust particles on ultraviolet solar radiation.
The researchers who are carrying out the data measuring and registration work in the Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente (CEAMA) hope to obtain the necessary information to analyse and simulate future environmental conditions.
CIRRUS Project
CIRRUS is the name of the project with which scientists want to determine the influence of clouds on ultraviolet radiation. The group has installed in the CEAMA a solar radiation collection system, to collect both the one that incises directly, and the one that comes from all directions, collected and monitored by a device known as spectroradiometer. This measurement technique provides wider information about ultraviolet radiation than the observation networks of the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología. The researchers have also developed, given the variable cloud typology, a sky camera that acquires digital images with a frequency of only five minutes. These processed images allow them to get to know the percentage of clouds that covers the vault of heaven, and at the same time complete the experimental data.
With the obtained results, the researchers are going to set in motion a collaboration project with the University of Evora, in Portugal, and the Consiglio Nazionalle delle Ricerche de Italia, in such a way that modifying the configuration of the instrument, the measurements are registered to quantify the total ozone content in the atmospheric column, as well as its distribution.
Ozone, pollutant and protective shield
If all the solar ultraviolet radiation would reach the earth’s surface, it would exterminate most of the planet’s life. Fortunately, the ozone layer located in the higher layers of the atmosphere absorbs the most harmful fraction of the ultraviolet radiation. There was a high alarm when the decrease of ozone concentration was associated with the indiscriminate use of artificial gases with chlorine content. On this same day the Treaty of Montréal was signed in which, for the first time, an environmental subject provoked an immediate answer to stop the production of such gases, such as the CFC, in the industrialized countries.
However, the ozone present in the region en where the air we breathe is can locally reach dangerous levels. The transport or the use of agrochemicals, among other human practices, emit pollutants that, due to solar light, react and favour the formation of ozone in the low layers of the atmosphere which, when concentration increases, turns into a pollutant affecting our health more and more.
Reference
Prof Lucas Alados Arboledas. Department of Applied Physics. 958 137 246. Mobile 679 431 821
E-mail. alados@ugr.es