An overview and issues of the sky radiometer technology and SKYNET

Abstract

Abstract. This paper overviews the progress in the sky radiometer technology and development of the network called SKYNET. It is found that the technology has produced useful on-site calibration methods, retrieval algorithms, and data analyses from the sky radiometer observation of aerosol, cloud, water vapor and ozone. Increasing collaborations of users in the SKYNET community are becoming a useful platform for research and operation. The paper also presents issues of the technology for future development.

A climatology of aerosol optical depths in the ultraviolet wavelengths for Hobart, Australia, as determined by a Brewer MKIII spectrophotometer

“…Aerosols presently provide the largest uncertainty in model estimates of climate change, and furthermore, they directly affect human health and can negatively affect the physical environment (WMO, 2014;IPCC, 2021). Presently there are several global networks of stations that measure extinction of solar radiation by aerosols using sun photometers, such as the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET; Holben et al, 2001) and SKYNET (Nakajima et al, 2020). In the ultraviolet range, the Brewer spectrophotometer network offers an added source of aerosol information on a global scale as there are approximately over 150 operational Brewer stations around the world acquiring ozone and spectral ultraviolet radiation data (https://woudc.org).…”