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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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Autores principales: 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.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773812/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26932150
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep22457
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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.
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.
collection PubMed
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.
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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. Sci Rep 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/
spellingShingle Article
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
title 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_short The Solar Spectrum in the Atacama Desert
title_sort solar spectrum in the atacama desert
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773812/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26932150
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep22457
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