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The fourth North American Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held September 15 to 25, 1997 at Table Mountain outside of Boulder, Colorado, USA. Concern over stratospheric ozone depletion has prompted several government agencies in North America to establish networks of spectroradiometers for monitoring solar ultraviolet irradiance at the surface of the Earth. The main purpose of the Intercomparison was to assess the ability of spectroradiometers to accurately measure solar ultraviolet irradiance, and to compare the results between instruments of different monitoring networks. This Intercomparison was coordinated by NIST and NOAA, and included participants from the ASRC, EPA, NIST, NSF, SERC, USDA, and YES. The UV measuring instruments included scanning spectroradiometers, spectrographs, narrow band multi-filter radiometers, and broadband radiometers. Instruments were characterized for wavelength accuracy, bandwidth, stray-light rejection, and spectral irradiance responsivity. The spectral irradiance responsivity was determined two to three times outdoors to assess temporal stability. Synchronized spectral scans of the solar irradiance were performed over several days. Using the spectral irradiance responsivities determined with the NIST traceable standard lamp, and a simple convolution technique with a Gaussian slit-scattering function to account for the different bandwidths of the instruments, the measured solar irradiance from the spectroradiometers excluding the filter radiometers at 16.5 h UTC had a relative standard deviation of ±4 % for wavelengths greater than 305 nm. The relative standard deviation for the solar irradiance at 16.5 h UTC including the filter radiometer was ±4 % for filter functions above 300 nm.

During two days in late December 1994, total ozone measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii, dropped below 200 Dobson Units (DU) for the first time since ozone measurements began at this site over 30 years ago. Total ozone values this low have not previously occurred over populated areas except on rare occasions when the edges of the springtime Antarctic ozone hole temporarily pass over the southern tip of Argentina. The monthly total ozone average for January 1995 was 216 DU, about 14% below the 1964–1981 baseline value. Ultraviolet radiation measured at Mauna Loa on clear days during this period increased inversely with ozone as expected, more than tripling in relative intensity at 295 nm. The normal annual minimum in total ozone occurs in winter at Mauna Loa; however, some winters experience considerably lower values than others. This was the case during the winter of 1994–1995. Although the general decline in global ozone, which began about 1980 and also appears in the Mauna Loa record, may be related to chemical ozone depletion, the unusually low values during some winters at Mauna Loa appear to be related to ozone transport from the tropics, and the timing of phase transitions of the QBO. This analysis provides an accurate method of forecasting low-ozone, high-UV winters in Hawaii.

Precision Measurements of UVB global irradiance in 5-nm-wide spectral bands centered from 290 to 320 nm were made continuously from September 1975 through December 1990. The spectral radiometer was calibrated at roughly monthly intervals. Annual maximum monthly means for total daily radiation, radiation at solar noon, and clear sky radiation at small secants all were observed to be significantly higher during the period from 1983 through 1989. The maximum monthly mean of integrated 295–320 nm total daily radiation in 1986 was 29% above the long-term mean, 47% above the maximum in 1982, and 54% above the mean maxima for 1979–1982. These interannual changes were largest for the shorter wavelengths but were significant for all spectral bands. Interannual variations in clear sky radiation were largest at small secants. For maximum monthly means of integrated 295–320 nm flux, the secant 1.2 maximum in 1989 was 19% above the long-term mean and the average of the maxima during 1983–1989 was 13% above the long-term mean.