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Shadow-band radiometers in general, and especially the Multi-Filter Rotating Shadow-band Radiometer (MFRSR), are widely used for atmospheric optical depth measurements. The major programs running MFRSR networks in the United States include the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture UV-B Monitoring and Research Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) Network, and NASA Solar Irradiance Research Network (SIRN). We discuss a number of technical issues specific to shadowband radiometers and their impact on the optical depth measurements. These problems include instrument tilt and misalignment, as well as some data processing artifacts. Techniques for data evaluation and automatic detection of some of these problems are described. OCIS codes: 120.4640, 120.5240, 120.5630, 120.0280, 010.1100, 010.1120.

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 […]

This paper reports on a third generation rotating shadowband spectroradiometer (RSS) used to measure global and diffuse horizontal plus direct normal irradiances and transmissions at 1002 wavelengths between 360 and 1070 nm. The prism-dispersed spectral data are from the ARM Southern Great Plains site in north central Oklahoma (36.605 N, 97.486 W) and cover dates between August 2009 and February 2014. The refurbished RSS isolates the detector in a vacuum chamber with pressures near 10-7 torr. This prevents the deposition of outgassed vapors from the interior of the spectrometer shell on the cooled detector that affected the operation of the first commercial RSS. Methods for (1) ensuring the correct wavelength registration of the data and (2) deriving extraterrestrial responses over the entire spectrum, including throughout strong water vapor and oxygen bands, are described. The resulting data produced are archived as ARM data records and include cloud-screened aerosol optical depths as well as spectral irradiances and solar transmissions for all three solar components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]