An algorithm to evaluate solar irradiance and effective dose rates using spectral UV irradiance at four selected wavelengths

The paper shows a semi-analytical method for environmental and dosimetric applications to evalu-ate, in clear sky conditions, the solar irradiance and the effective dose rates for some action spectra using only 4 spectral irradiance values at selected wavelengths in the UV-B & UV-A regions (305, 320, 340 & 380 nm). The method, named WL4UV, is based on a reconstruction of an approximated spectral irradiance that can be integrated, to obtain the solar irradiance, or convoluted with an action spectrum to obtain an effective dose rate. The parameters required in the algorithm are deduced by solar spectral irradiance of author's ar-chive. This database contains the measures carried out by some Brewer spectrophotometers located in different geographic positions with very far environmental characteristics: Italy, Svalbard Islands (Norway), Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). To evaluate the goodness of method a double test was performed with data not used to develop the model. Data from Brewer measurements archive in Rome (Italy) and from the NSF UV data set in San Diego (Ca, USA) and Ushuaia (Argentina), where SUV 100 spectroradiometers run, were sort-ed. The comparison of measured and computed irradiance has a relative deviation of ±2% about. The effective dose rates for action spectra of Erythema, DNA and Non Melanoma skin cancer have a relative deviation less then 20% about for solar zenith angles less then 50°