The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert has been pointed out as one of the places on earth where the highest surface irradiance may occur. This area is characterized by its high altitude, prevalent cloudless conditions and relatively low columns of ozone and water vapor. Aimed at the characterization of the solar spectr...

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Main Authors:	Cordero, R. R., Damiani, A., Seckmeyer, G., Jorquera, J., Caballero, M., Rowe, P., Ferrer, J., Mubarak, R., Carrasco, J., Rondanelli, R., Matus, M., Laroze, D.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2016
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773812/

id	pubmed-4773812
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-47738122016-03-09 The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert Cordero, R. R. Damiani, A. Seckmeyer, G. Jorquera, J. Caballero, M. Rowe, P. Ferrer, J. Mubarak, R. Carrasco, J. Rondanelli, R. Matus, M. Laroze, D. Article The Atacama Desert has been pointed out as one of the places on earth where the highest surface irradiance may occur. This area is characterized by its high altitude, prevalent cloudless conditions and relatively low columns of ozone and water vapor. Aimed at the characterization of the solar spectrum in the Atacama Desert, we carried out in February-March 2015 ground-based measurements of the spectral irradiance (from the ultraviolet to the near infrared) at seven locations that ranged from the city of Antofagasta (on the southern pacific coastline) to the Chajnantor Plateau (5,100 m altitude). Our spectral measurements allowed us to retrieve the total ozone column, the precipitable water, and the aerosol properties at each location. We found that changes in these parameters, as well as the shorter optical path length at high-altitude locations, lead to significant increases in the surface irradiance with the altitude. Our measurements show that, in the range 0–5100 m altitude, surface irradiance increases with the altitude by about 27% in the infrared range, 6% in the visible range, and 20% in the ultraviolet range. Spectral measurements carried out at the Izaña Observatory (Tenerife, Spain), in Hannover (Germany) and in Santiago (Chile), were used for further comparisons. Nature Publishing Group 2016-03-02 /pmc/articles/PMC4773812/ /pubmed/26932150 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep22457 Text en Copyright © 2016, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Cordero, R. R. Damiani, A. Seckmeyer, G. Jorquera, J. Caballero, M. Rowe, P. Ferrer, J. Mubarak, R. Carrasco, J. Rondanelli, R. Matus, M. Laroze, D.
spellingShingle	Cordero, R. R. Damiani, A. Seckmeyer, G. Jorquera, J. Caballero, M. Rowe, P. Ferrer, J. Mubarak, R. Carrasco, J. Rondanelli, R. Matus, M. Laroze, D. The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
author_facet	Cordero, R. R. Damiani, A. Seckmeyer, G. Jorquera, J. Caballero, M. Rowe, P. Ferrer, J. Mubarak, R. Carrasco, J. Rondanelli, R. Matus, M. Laroze, D.
author_sort	Cordero, R. R.
title	The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
title_short	The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
title_full	The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
title_fullStr	The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
title_full_unstemmed	The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
title_sort	solar spectrum in the atacama desert
description	The Atacama Desert has been pointed out as one of the places on earth where the highest surface irradiance may occur. This area is characterized by its high altitude, prevalent cloudless conditions and relatively low columns of ozone and water vapor. Aimed at the characterization of the solar spectrum in the Atacama Desert, we carried out in February-March 2015 ground-based measurements of the spectral irradiance (from the ultraviolet to the near infrared) at seven locations that ranged from the city of Antofagasta (on the southern pacific coastline) to the Chajnantor Plateau (5,100 m altitude). Our spectral measurements allowed us to retrieve the total ozone column, the precipitable water, and the aerosol properties at each location. We found that changes in these parameters, as well as the shorter optical path length at high-altitude locations, lead to significant increases in the surface irradiance with the altitude. Our measurements show that, in the range 0–5100 m altitude, surface irradiance increases with the altitude by about 27% in the infrared range, 6% in the visible range, and 20% in the ultraviolet range. Spectral measurements carried out at the Izaña Observatory (Tenerife, Spain), in Hannover (Germany) and in Santiago (Chile), were used for further comparisons.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2016
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773812/
_version_	1613545878870556672

The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert

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