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For more than 70 years measurements of the global and diffuse solar surface radiation have been taken within the DWD measurement network. Since 2006 those two radiation quantities are recorded with a temporal resolution of 1 minute at currently more than 30 stations.At Meteorological Observatory in Lindenberg, we developed a new optimal estimation-based retrieval algorithm to estimate the AOD from ground-based global and diffuse broadband radiation measurements, measurements of the total column water vapor from GNNS, and ozone from the satellite-borne instrument OMI. The suitability of using the global surface radiation as a source to estimate the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) at certain wavelength based on radiative transfer simulations was already shown in several studies. Adding the information on the diffuse surface radiation increases the information content on the aerosol size distribution. Thereby we could reduce the error between the AOD derived from broadband measurements and the AOD derived from photometric measurements. Comparisons of the derived AOD with 7 collocated AERONET sites in Germany show a very good agreement with a monthly mean difference below 0.02 in the AOD. The differences in the AODs can be simply described by the differences in observed airmass and larger measurement errors of the broadband observations.With the radiative transfer model, used in the retrieval algorithm as a forward model, we calculate for each measurement the incoming surface radiation for a cloud and aerosol-free atmosphere to estimate the direct aerosol effect for the daily mean AOD. For this reason, the estimated direct aerosol effect is limited to days with at least 10 minutes of cloud-free observations.In our presentation, we will show validation results of the algorithm as well as trend analysis of the AOD and direct aerosol effect in Germany at available pyranometer sites since 2006.

The German Weather Service (DWD) initiated the operational observation of solar global and diffuse radiation at the Observatory Potsdam in 1937. Nowadays, these components are observed at 35 stations using thermopile-based pyranometers. Most of the stations are also equipped with a pyrgeometer to record the downwelling long-wave radiation.The solar radiation experienced major decadal variations in Germany over the past 80 years. While a significant decrease between 1950 and 1985 occurred, a continuous increase can be observed since 1985 with some of the highest annual means ever recorded in the past five years. The decrease in the second half of the 20th century with the subsequent increase is commonly referred to as dimming and brightening. While these variations were most likely due to anthropogenically caused variations in the aerosol load, the recent increase is not yet fully understood. Since aerosol loads have stabilized at low levels at the beginning of the 21th century, the direct aerosol effect might be less prominent at present. Instead, changes in cloudiness may have become more important.In order to disentangle the observed trends in the radiative fluxes and to determine the contribution from aerosols and clouds separately we also use radiation data from the BSRN station at the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg. The station was established in 1994 and high accuracy measurements of downwelling long-wave radiation and all three components of downwelling short-wave radiation (global, diffuse and direct) have been recorded continuously since then. We use a 1-dim. Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) to calculate the short- and long-wave cloud-free fluxes in order to quantify the cloud radiative effect. Similar, we estimate the direct aerosol effect. Preliminary results indicate a decrease in the cloud radiative effect over the past 20 year, which can imply a decrease in cloud cover but may also include a shift towards a different cloud type and/or a change in microphysical cloud properties. Finally, we present methods which can be used to determine the spectral AOD and the cloud-radiative effect for sites or periods when no direct observations of the spectral AOD and no information about the vertical temperature and humidity structure of the atmosphere for thermal RTM calculations are available.

For an efficient integration of photovoltaic (PV) energy into the power grids, more accurate forecasts of the expected PV-power production are needed. However, most operational numerical weather prediction models rely on an aerosol climatology and ignore the spatio-temporal variability of the atmospheric aerosol. For specific weather conditions like during mineral dust outbreaks or major wildfire events, the negligence of prognostic aerosol often leads to significant deficiencies in the operational forecasts, however.At Deutscher Wetter­dienst (DWD) and Karlsruhe Insti­tute of Technology (KIT) the project “PermaStrom” aims at the operational prediction of various natural aerosol species to improve radiation forecasts. Emission, transport and deposition of mineral dust, black carbon from vegetation fires, and sea salt are thus explicitly simulated in the ICON-ART model system. In the model, direct aerosol effects on radiation are considered using state-of-the-art optical properties. Microphysical effects of aerosol acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nucleating particles (INPs) are investigated in a high-resolution regional model with the long-term goal to improve the parameterization of aerosol-cloud effects in global models.Aerosol-cloud-radiation effects are studied in a regional ICON-ART model with 2 km grid spacing with an aerosol-aware two-moment bulk microphysics scheme. In addition, first steps are made towards a global ensemble system for aerosol forecasts using ICON-ART. This will allow to quantify the uncertainty of the forecasts. A multi-fidelity ensemble, which combines ICON-ART and ICON simulations to optimally sample the aerosol- and flow-dependent variability, is used to keep the computational processing manageable. The ICON-ART simulations are validated with aerosol and radiation measurements at surface stations as well as cloud, aerosol and radiation products from satellites and ceilometers.We will give an overview of the ICON-ART configuration of the pre-operational real-time global aerosol prediction system at DWD. This includes aspects like mineral dust, sea salt, and wildfire emissions. For the latter, a machine learning emulator of the plume rise model is currently being developed.

Balloon-based soundings have been carried out for more than 100 years and have since formed an important database and reference for characterizing the 3-dimensional structure of the atmosphere. In addition to the meteorological standard variables trace gases, aerosol and radiation profiles have recently also been recorded using radiosondes.Since this is significantly more expensive equipment compared to a standard radiosonde, some more effort is required to enable safe soundings and transfer back home for each case. The repetition rates of the soundings are consequently much lower than those of the operational measurements.The measurement conditions during the sounding differ significantly from the usual conditions for radiation measurements near the ground: temperatures down to -85°C at the tropopause level, rapid temperature changes of more than 50 K/h at an ascent rate of 5 m/s and possible impacts of liquid and iced cloud droplets on the observations need to be handled. This requires adjustments to the acquisition of measured values ​​and a careful selection of the launch time.At Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory (52.21° north, 14.12° east) of the German Weather Service, a total of 68 all-season sounding flights have been carried out since April 2015 with modified radiosondes of the Meteolabor SRS-C34 and SRS-C50 type with added upward and downward solar and terrestrial radiation.This presentation is discussing and interpreting the observational results of individual cloudless cases as well as soundings passing low, medium and high clouds. The downward fluxes are significantly modified below the tropopause. On the other hand, reflected radiation and terrestrial radiation are not only subject to local changes, even up to an altitude of 34 km, which can be quantified by including data on land use and cloud cover.In addition, we will show the result of a case study where the radiative fluxes observed in and around clouds are used to validate corresponding numerical simulations performed with the ICON-ART model.

Stray light in single-monochromator Brewer instruments increases the uncertainty of solar ultraviolet spectral irradiance measurements and ozone retrievals. To study how spectral irradiance within and outside the measurement ranges of the instruments affects stray light, two Brewer MKII instruments were characterized for the level of in- and out-of-range stray light at multiple laser wavelengths. In addition, several solar-blind filters utilized in single-monochromator Brewers to limit out-of-range stray light were characterized for spectral and spatial transmittances. Finally, the measurement results were used to simulate the effect of stray light and stray light correction on spectral irradiance and ozone measurements at different wavelength regions. The effect of stray light from wavelengths above 340 nm was found to be negligible compared with other sources of uncertainty. On the other hand, contributions from wavelengths between 325 and 340 nm can form a significant portion of the overall stray light of the instrument, with 325 nm being the upper limit of the nominal measurement range of the instrument.

International audience; The authors regret that there is an error in equation 12. The right equation for κλ, as is defined in Barreto et al. (The new Sun-sky-lunar Cimel CE318-T multiband photometer - a comprehensive performance evaluation, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 631-654, 10.5194/amt-9-631-2016, 2016), is the reversed form of equation 12. That is: κλ = V0,λ*G/E0,λ.

This work presents a study on the sensitivity of two satellite cloud height retrievals to cloud vertical distribution. The difference in sensitivity is exploited by relating the difference in the retrieved cloud heights to cloud vertical extent. The two cloud height retrievals, performed within the Freie Universität Berlin AATSR MERIS Cloud (FAME-C) algorithm, are based on independent measurements and different retrieval techniques. First, cloud-top temperature (CTT) is retrieved from Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) measurements in the thermal infrared. Second, cloud-top pressure (CTP) is retrieved from Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) measurements in the oxygen-A absorption band and a nearby window channel. Both CTT and CTP are converted to cloud-top height (CTH) using atmospheric profiles from a numerical weather prediction model. First, a sensitivity study using radiative transfer simulations in the near-infrared and thermal infrared was performed to demonstrate, in a quantitative manner, the larger impact of the assumed cloud vertical extinction profile, described in terms of shape and vertical extent, on MERIS than on AATSR top-of-atmosphere measurements. Consequently, cloud vertical extinction profiles will have a larger influence on the MERIS than on the AATSR cloud height retrievals for most cloud types. Second, the difference in retrieved CTH (ΔCTH) from AATSR and MERIS are related to cloud vertical extent (CVE), as observed by ground-based lidar and radar at three ARM sites. To increase the impact of the cloud vertical extinction profile on the MERIS-CTP retrievals, single-layer and geometrically thin clouds are assumed in the forward model. Similarly to previous findings, the MERIS-CTP retrievals appear to be close to pressure levels in the middle of the cloud. Assuming a linear relationship, the ΔCTH multiplied by 2.5 gives an estimate on the CVE for single-layer clouds. The relationship is stronger for single-layer clouds than for multi-layer clouds. Due to large variations of cloud vertical extinction profiles occurring in nature, a quantitative estimate of the cloud vertical extent is accompanied with large uncertainties. Yet, estimates of the CVE provide an additional parameter, next to CTH, that can be obtained from passive imager measurements and can be used to further describe cloud vertical distribution, thus contributing to the characterization of a cloudy scene. To further demonstrate the plausibility of the approach, an estimate of the CVE was applied to a case study. In light of the follow-up mission Sentinel-3 with AATSR and MERIS like instruments, Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) and (Ocean and Land Colour Instrument) OLCI, respectively, for which the FAME-C algorithm can be easily adapted, a more accurate estimate of the CVE can be expected. OLCI will have three channels in the oxygen-A absorption band, possibly providing enhanced information on cloud vertical distributions.

The Precision Solar SpectroRadiometer (PSR) is a new spectroradiometer developed at Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos-World Radiation Center (PMOD-WRC), Davos, measuring Direct Solar Irradiance at the surface, in the 300–1020 nm spectral range at high temporal resolution. The purpose of this work is to investigate the instrument's potential of retrieving Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) using its spectral measurements. Two different approaches were developed in order to retrieve IWV, the first one using single channel/wavelength measurements, following a theoretical water vapor high absorption wavelength, and the second one using direct sun irradiance integrated at a certain spectral region. IWV results have been validated using a 2-year dataset, consisting of an AERONET sun- photometer Cimel CE318, a Global Positioning System (GPS), a Microwave Radiometer Profiler (MWP) and radiosonde retrievals recorded at Meteorological Observatorium Lindenberg, Germany. For the monochromatic approach, better agreement with retrievals from other methods/instruments was achieved using the 946 nm channel, while for the spectral approach using the 934–948 nm window. Compared to other instruments' retrievals, the monochromatic approach leads to mean relative differences up to 3.3 % with the coefficient of determination (R2) being in the region of 0.87–0.95, while for the spectral approach mean relative differences up to 0.7 % were recorded with R2 in the region of 0.96–0.98. Uncertainties related to IWV retrieval methods were investigated and found to be less than 0.28 cm for both methods. Absolute IWV deviations of differences between PSR and other instruments were determined the range of 0.08–0.30 cm and only in extreme cases would reach up to 15 %.

A total solar eclipse occurred on March 20th, 2015. The longest duration of totality was 2 minutes and 47 seconds off the coast of the Faroe Islands. It was visible in Europe and the only populated places from which the totality could be seen were the Faroe Islands and Svalbard. We report here on solar radiation measurements with various filter and spectral radiometers performed at Davos, Switzerland (46.8N, 9.8E) where the eclipse obscuration and magnitude were 66.9% and 0.729 respectively and Lindenberg, Germany (52.2N, 14.1E), (73% and 0.778). For the case of the 73% obscuration, spectral differences (between 380 nm to 865 nm) of 8% have been calculated from direct irradiance measurements and model calculations. In this work, using spectral measurements from different sensors, we also investigated possible factors that could cause spectral variations on the measured solar irradiance, such as the centre-to-limb variations (CLV) of the solar brightness that strongly depend on wavelengths. Finally, the ob...

k-distribution methods are efficient tools for large spectral band radiation transfer simulations in the atmosphere. A weakness of classical k-distribution method (correlated k-distribution method) is the simulation of layered atmosphere with variable gas absorption. This weakness is due to the use of the correlation approximation. We can avoid the use of the correlation approximation using a spectral mapping for the construction of the k-distribution intervals. This already-existing method is known as Spectral Mapping Transformation (SMT). Within SMT k-distribution, k-distribution is built to suit all the atmospheric layers. This difference of method, compared to the correlated k-distribution methods, leads to a loss of rapidity but to a gain of precision. Particularly, SMT k-distribution methods permit a balance between rapidity and precision by decreasing or increasing the number of bins (spectroscopically similar k-distribution intervals). Within this article, we recapitulate the main principles of SMT k-distribution methods and present two improvements: the k-IR method, which is an adaptation of an SMT k-distribution method to the thermal infrared, and k-bin, which is an adaptation of an SMT k-distribution method that allows the user to simulate narrow-band satellite channels with a non-fixed spectral response function. k-IR permits a modeling of the absorption and emission by gases, even if the spectral variability of the Planck function is completely different from the spectral variability of absorption/emission coefficients. This is achieved by associating to each bin (spectroscopically similar k-distribution interval) a precomputed value of the bin-averaged blackbody radiance. Within this paper, we outline k-IR and apply it for the simulation of Channel 3 (12.05 μm) of the Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) aboard the CALIPSO satellite. Results show that the accuracy steadily increases with an increasing number of bins. This will allow us to reach the instrument precision. k-bin, otherwise, is a more stringent approach of the k-distribution method. The major difference between a conventional k-distribution and k-bin is that, for a given spectral interval no assumption about the shape of the sensor weighting function has to be incorporated a priori. For a given spectral interval, any sensor response function can be constructed from a set of radiative transfer simulations. This requires somewhat different constraints in the way the subdivision in bins is performed, namely we must ensure that not only the band-averaged transmission is resembled to high accuracy, but also the transmission in each bin. Within this paper we outline k-bin method and apply it to high-resolution spectroscopic simulations in the oxygen A-band. k-bin allows for a representation of any channel (with a resolution of 0.04 nm or lower) within the oxygen A-band with an accuracy of 0.2% or better with less than 600 simulations. This corresponds for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) to a computational cost of 0.6 simulations per channel.

A new scheme for the retrieval of total columnar water vapour from measurements of MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) on ENVISAT (ENVIronmental SATellite) is presented. The algorithm is based on a fast forward model of the water vapour transmittance around 900nm, including a correction for atmospheric scattering and the influence of the temperature- and pressure-profile on the water vapour absorption lines. It provides the water vapour column amount for cloud-free scenes above land and ocean at a spatial resolution of 0.25 km × 0.3 km and 1 km × 1.2 km, depending on whether applied to the "full resolution" or the operational "reduced resolution" mode of MERIS. Uncertainties are provided on a pixel-by-pixel basis, taking into account all relevant sources of error. An extensive validation against various sources of ground-based reference data reveals a high accuracy of MERIS water vapour above land (root mean square deviations between 1.4 mm and 3.7 mm), apart from a wet bias of MERIS between 5 and 10% that is found in all comparison studies. This wet bias might be caused by spectroscopic uncertainties, such as the description of the water vapour continuum. Above ocean the accuracy is reduced, due to the uncertainty introduced by the unknown atmospheric scattering. Consequently, an increased root mean square deviation of ≥5 mm was found by comparing MERIS total columnar water vapour above ocean against SSM/I and ENVISAT MWR data. An increased wet bias of 2–3 mm is found over ocean, potentially due to a not properly working atmospheric correction scheme.

In this study we present airborne observations of aerosol and trace gases obtained over the sea in the Western Mediterranean Basin during the TRAQA (TRansport and Air QuAlity) and SAFMED (Secondary Aerosol Formation in the MEDiterranean) campaigns in summers 2012 and 2013. A total of 23 vertical profiles were measured up to 5000 m a.s.l. over an extended area (40–45° N latitude and 2° W–12° E longitude) including the Gulf of Genoa, Southern France, the Gulf of Lion, and the Spanish coast. TRAQA and SAFMED successfully measured a wide range of meteorological conditions which favoured the pollution export from different sources located around the basin. Also, several events of dust outflows were measured during the campaigns. Observations from the present study indicate that continental pollution largely affects the Western Mediterranean both close to coastal regions and in the open sea as far as ~250 km from the coastline. Aerosol layers not specifically linked with Saharan dust outflows are distributed ubiquitously which indicates quite elevated levels of background pollution throughout the Western Basin. The measured aerosol scattering coefficient varies between ~20 and 120 M m−1, while carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3) mixing ratios are in the range of 60–170 and 30–85 ppbv, respectively. Pollution reaches 3000–4000 m in altitude and presents a very complex and highly stratified structure characterized by fresh and aged layers both in the boundary layer and in the free troposphere. Within pollution plumes the measured particle concentration in the Aitken (0.004–0.1 μm) and accumulation (0.1–1.0 μm) modes is between $\\sim 100$ and 5000–6000 s cm−3 (standard cm−3), which is comparable to the aerosol concentration measured in continental urban areas. Additionally, our measurements indicate the presence of highly concentrated Aitken layers (10 000–15 000 s cm−3) observed both close to the surface and in the free troposphere, possibly linked to the influence of new particle formation (NPF) episodes over the basin.

1-D radiative transfer code Matrix-Operator Model (MOMO), has been extended from [ 0.2 − 3.65 μ m ] the band to the whole [ 0.2 − 100 μ m ] spectrum. MOMO can now be used for the computation of a full range of radiation budgets (shortwave and longwave). This extension to the longwave part of the electromagnetic radiation required to consider radiative transfer processes that are features of the thermal infrared: the spectroscopy of the water vapor self- and foreign-continuum of absorption at 12 μ m and the emission of radiation by gases, aerosol, clouds and surface. MOMO׳s spectroscopy module, Coefficient of Gas Absorption (CGASA), has been developed for computation of gas extinction coefficients, considering continua and spectral line absorptions. The spectral dependences of gas emission/absorption coefficients and of Planck׳s function are treated using a k-distribution. The emission of radiation is implemented in the adding–doubling process of the matrix operator method using Schwarzschild׳s approach in the radiative transfer equation (a pure absorbing/emitting medium, namely without scattering). Within the layer, the Planck-function is assumed to have an exponential dependence on the optical-depth. In this paper, validation tests are presented for clear air case studies: comparisons to the analytical solution of a monochromatic Schwarzschild׳s case without scattering show an error of less than 0.07% for a realistic atmosphere with an optical depth and a blackbody temperature that decrease linearly with altitude. Comparisons to radiative transfer code RTTOV are presented for simulations of top of atmosphere brightness temperature for channels of the space-borne instrument MODIS. Results show an agreement varying from 0.1 K to less than 1 K depending on the channel. Finally MOMO results are compared to CALIPSO Infrared Imager Radiometer (IIR) measurements for clear air cases. A good agreement was found between computed and observed radiance: biases are smaller than 0.5 K and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) varies between 0.4 K and 0.6 K depending on the channel. The extension of the code allows the utilization of MOMO as forward model for remote sensing algorithms in the full range spectrum. Another application is full range radiation budget computations (heating rates or forcings).

In this study we examine the performance of 31 global model radiative transfer schemes in cloud-free conditions with prescribed gaseous absorbers and no aerosols (Rayleigh atmosphere), with prescribed scattering-only aerosols, and with more absorbing aerosols. Results are compared to benchmark results from high-resolution, multi-angular line-by-line radiation models. For purely scattering aerosols, model bias relative to the line-by-line models in the top-of-the atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing ranges from roughly −10 to 20%, with over- and underestimates of radiative cooling at lower and higher solar zenith angle, respectively. Inter-model diversity (relative standard deviation) increases from ~10 to 15% as solar zenith angle decreases. Inter-model diversity in atmospheric and surface forcing decreases with increased aerosol absorption, indicating that the treatment of multiple-scattering is more variable than aerosol absorption in the models considered. Aerosol radiative forcing results from multi-stream models are generally in better agreement with the line-by-line results than the simpler two-stream schemes. Considering radiative fluxes, model performance is generally the same or slightly better than results from previous radiation scheme intercomparisons. However, the inter-model diversity in aerosol radiative forcing remains large, primarily as a result of the treatment of multiple-scattering. Results indicate that global models that estimate aerosol radiative forcing with two-stream radiation schemes may be subject to persistent biases introduced by these schemes, particularly for regional aerosol forcing.

Strong radiative forcing is induced by absorbing aerosol overlying low level clouds, as it leads to a local change of the earth albedo due to the radiative interactions of the aerosol and clouds layers and to an extremely important but local warming effect in the aerosol layer (Frazer and Kaufman, 1980). There are few regions where this impact may be significant at regional scale. It is the case of biomass burning particles transported over the Atlantic West of central Africa above bright stratocumulus clouds. Although the general physical process of this interaction is well understood in terms of direct forcing, it is largely uncertain because of the lack of accurate global scale observations of the aerosol optical parameters above the clouds [Yu et al. 2006], but also because of the need to account for time and space variations of the aerosols and cloud properties in the analysis. Only limited regional in-situ measurements [Keil and Haywood 2003] and satellite data analysis [Chand et al. 2009] have been performed. Moreover, the retrieval of cloud properties is biased by the presence of aerosol above the clouds. The new developments combining polarized active (CALIPSO [Hu et al. 2007]) and passive (PARASOL [Waquet et al. 2009]) observations offer the opportunity to retrieve the properties of aerosol above the clouds with an accuracy difficult to achieve by a standard inversion of the lidar data or an analysis of the unpolarized radiance. Those polarized products used in combination of the recently developed CALIPSO/CloudSat synergies [Josset et al. 2010] offer a guidance to better estimate the potential bias in liquid water cloud properties retrieval in standard passive retrievals.

International audience; Surface tension forces induced by a liquid droplet are used to bend thin elastic sheets into three dimensional structures. The resulting 3D shape may be controlled by tailoring the initial cut of the sheet. We derive the criterion for folding from a balance between elastic and capillary effects and compare it with the experiments. This mechanism can be used for fabrication of three-dimensional micro- or nano-scale objects through the self-folding of planar templates.

The interaction between elasticity and capillarity is used to produce three dimensional structures, through the wrapping of a liquid droplet by a planar sheet. The final encapsulated 3D shape is controlled by tayloring the initial geometry of the flat membrane. A 2D model shows the evolution of open sheets to closed structures and predicts a critical length scale below which encapsulation cannot occur, which is verified experimentally. This {\it elastocapillary length} is found to depend on the thickness as $h^{3/2}$, a scaling favorable to miniaturization which suggests a new way of mass production of 3D micro- or nano-scale objects., 5 pages, 5 figures

International audience; The wet fur of a dog coming out of a pond assembles into bunches: this is the most common effect of capillary forces on elasticity structures (the hairs). From a practical point of view, the deformation of flexible elements by surface tension forces dramatically damages mechanical microsystems or lung airways, but also allows the self-organization of nanotube carpets into well defined clump patterns. But capillary forces may generate even more complex structures when flexible sheets are brought to contact with a liquid interface. Here we present experiments where surface tension folds up an elastic sheet around a deposited water droplet, and discuss the different possible shapes obtained. These self-folding origami may be used in microsy stems design as a convenient and robust way to fold two-dimensional planar patterns into 3-dimensional structures, since surface tension effects are enhanced at small scales

The first multi-instrument nocturnal aerosol optical depth (AOD) intercomparison campaign was held at the high-mountain Izaña Observatory (Tenerife, Spain) in June 2017, involving 2-min synchronous measurements from two different types of lunar photometers (Cimel CE318-T and Moon Precision Filter Radiometer, LunarPFR) and one stellar photometer. The Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO) model developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was compared with the open-access ROLO Implementation for Moon photometry Observation (RIMO) model. Results showed rather small differences at Izaña over a 2-month time period covering June and July, 2017 (±0.01 in terms of AOD calculated by means of a day/night/day coherence test analysis and ± 2% in terms of lunar irradiance). The RIMO model has been used in this field campaign to retrieve AOD from lunar photometric measurements. No evidence of significant differences with the Moon's phase angle was found when comparing raw signals of the six Cimel photometers involved in this field campaign. The raw signal comparison of the participating lunar photometers (Cimel and LunarPFR) performed at coincident wavelengths showed consistent measurements and AOD differences within their combined uncertainties at 870 nm and 675 nm. Slightly larger AOD deviations were observed at 500 nm, pointing to some unexpected instrumental variations during the measurement period. Lunar irradiances retrieved using RIMO for phase angles varying between 0° and 75° (full Moon to near quarter Moon) were compared to the irradiance variations retrieved by Cimel and LunarPFR photometers. Our results showed a relative agreement within ± 3.5% between the RIMO model and the photometer-based lunar irradiances. The AOD retrieved by performing a Langley-plot calibration each night showed a remarkable agreement (better than 0.01) between the lunar photometers. However, when applying the Lunar-Langley calibration using RIMO, AOD differences of up to 0.015 (0.040 for 500 nm) were found, with differences increasing with the Moon's phase angle. These differences are thought to be partly due to the uncertainties in the irradiance models, as well as instrumental deficiencies yet to be fully understood. High AOD variability in stellar measurements was detected during the campaign. Nevertheless, the observed AOD differences in the Cimel/stellar comparison were within the expected combined uncertainties of these two photometric techniques. Our results indicate that lunar photometry is a more reliable technique, especially for low aerosol loading conditions. The uncertainty analysis performed in this paper shows that the combined standard AOD uncertainty in lunar photometry is dependent on the calibration technique (up to 0.014 for Langley-plot with illumination-based correction, 0.012–0.022 for Lunar-Langley calibration, and up to 0.1 for the Sun-Moon Gain Factor method). This analysis also corroborates that the uncertainty of the lunar irradiance model used for AOD calculation is within the 5–10% expected range. This campaign has allowed us to quantify the important technical difficulties that still exist when routinely monitoring aerosol optical properties at night-time. The small AOD differences observed between the three types of photometers involved in the campaign are only detectable under pristine sky conditions such as those found in this field campaign. Longer campaigns are necessary to understand the observed discrepancies between instruments as well as to provide more conclusive results about the uncertainty involved in the lunar irradiance models. This work has been developed within the framework of the activities of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission for Instruments and Methods of Observations (CIMO) Izaña Testbed for Aerosols and Water Vapour Remote Sensing Instruments. AERONET sun photometers at Izaña have been calibrated within the AERONET Europe TNA, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 654109 (ACTRIS‒2). CE318-T linearity check has been performed as part of the ESA-funded project “Lunar spectral irradiance measurement and modelling for absolute calibration of EO optical sensors” under ESA contract number: 4000121576/17/NL/AF/hh. LunarPFR has been performing measurements since 2014 in Norway thanks to Svalbard Science Forum funded project, 2014–2016. The authors would like to thank AERONET team for their support and also to NASA’s Navigation and Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to help the implementation of the “SPICE” ancillary information system used in this study. We also thank Izaña's ITs for their work to implement the RIMO model in the free-access server. Special thanks should be given to Tom Stone, who has kindly provided us with the USGS/ROLO irradiance values used in the model comparison analysis. This work has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and from Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) ACE-GFAT (grant agreement no. 659398). The authors are grateful to Spanish MINECO (CTM2015-66742-R) and Junta de Castilla y León (VA100P17).

This study introduces an Earth observation (EO)-based system which is capable of operationally estimating and continuously monitoring the ultraviolet index (UVI) in Europe. The UVIOS (i.e. UV-Index Operating System) exploits a synergy of radiative transfer models with high performance computing and EO data from satellites (Meteosat Second Generation and Meteorological Operational Satellite-B), and retrieval processes (Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and the Global Land Service). It provides a near-real-time now-casting and short-term forecasting service for UV radiation over Europe. The main atmospheric inputs for the UVI simulations include ozone, clouds and aerosols while the impacts of ground elevation and surface albedo are also taken into account. The UVIOS output is the UVI at high spatial and temporal resolution (5 km and 15 minutes, respectively) for Europe (i.e. 1.5 million pixels) in real-time. The UVI is empirically related to biologically important UV dose rates and the reliability of this EO-based solution was verified against ground-based measurements from 17 stations across Europe. Stations are equipped with spectral, broadband or multi-filter instruments and cover a range of topographic and atmospheric conditions. A period of over one year of forecasted 15-min retrievals under all sky conditions were compared with the ground–based measurements. UVIOS forecasts were within ±0.5 of measured UVI for at least 70 % of the data compared at all stations. For clear sky conditions the agreement was better than 0.5 UVI for 80 % of the data. A sensitivity analysis of EO inputs and UVIOS outputs was performed in order to quantify the level of uncertainty in the derived products, and to identify the covariance between the accuracy of the output and the spatial and temporal resolution, and the quality of the inputs. Overall, UVIOS slightly overestimated UVI due to observational uncertainties in inputs of cloud and aerosol. This service will hopefully contribute to EO capabilities and will assist the provision of operational early warning systems that will help raise awareness among European Union citizens of the health implications of high UVI doses.