December 2003 -- A new research site has been established at the Lamar Community College in southeastern Colorado, consisting of a vis-MFRSR and a UV-MFRSR, with no ancillary instrumentation. The purpose is to provide continuous aerosol optical depth (AOD) data to a CSU Physics Department project investigating Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays, as part of the international Pierre Auger Observatory. Our AOD data will be used to verify the cleanliness of the air in the region, as the absence of aerosols and other contaminants is crucial to the successful detection of these Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays. If the atmosphere is clean enough, this southeastern Colorado area could become the northern hemisphere component of the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory, with the southern hemisphere component currently under construction in the Pampa Amarilla region of Argentina.
December 2003 -- PAR sensor added to Toronto, ON climatological site.
October 2003 -- PAR sensors added to Burlington, VT; Presque Isle, ME and Griffin, GA climatological sites.
September 2003 -- PAR sensors added to Poplar, MT; Regina, SK; Grand Rapids, MN and Billings, OK climatological sites.
September 2003 -- The UVMRP is looking to hire a third field technician, to start later this autumn.
August 2003 -- Four UVMRP personnel attended The International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, SPIE's 48th Annual Meeting, on 3-8 August, at the San Diego Convention Center. The Ultraviolet Ground- and Space-based Measurements, Models, and Effects III conference was jointly chaired by Jim Slusser and Wei Gao of the UVMRP and Jay Herman of NASA GSFC. Dr. James Gibson, the original director of the UVMRP, was presented with an Excellence Award "for a career of excellence in network design and instrumentation development in UV radiation". In addition, another Excellence Award "for a career of excellence in measurement and interpretation of UV radiation" was presented to Dr. James Kerr of Environment Canada. Nearly 100 people interested in or actively studying UV radiation attended this UV conference. Over 30 oral programs and 18 posters, representing UV research from 19 nations, were presented, including some by Jim Slusser, Wei Gao and George Janson.
August 2003 -- PAR sensor added to Dancy, WI climatological site.
July 2003 -- PAR sensors added to Storm Peak Lab, CO and Pellston, MI climatological sites.
June 2003 -- From the 13th to 23rd of this month, the 2003 UV Intercomparison was conducted at CUCF's Table Mountain Test Facility, 8 miles north of Boulder, Colorado. This year, participants enjoyed the use of fiber optic cable and T-1 line connections, thanks to the persistent efforts of it's director, Patrick Disterhoft. Participants came from around the world representing various organizations, including ASRC, CMDL, EPA, IMUK, NASA, NIWA, NOAA, NSF, SERC and USDA. A formal report is in progress at CUCF.
June 2003 -- PAR sensors added to Baton Rouge, LA and Fairbanks, AK climatological sites. We have now reached the halfway point of these deployments, with 16 of 32 sites having PAR sensors.
May 2003 -- PAR sensors added to Raleigh, NC and Grand Canyon, AZ and Davis, CA climatological sites.
May 2003 -- PAR data is now being reported in calibrated units of micromol/m^2/sec on the web site.
April 2003 -- PAR sensors added to Pullman, WA; Beltsville, MD; Bondville, IL; Holtville, CA and Mead, NE climatological sites.
April 2003 -- One of our UV-MFRSR instruments was in service at CENICA in Mexico City, Mexico to assist with their intensive air pollution study, which ran from 4 April to 3 May. Data for this site is accessible via our 'Cimatological/Research' page.
March 2003 -- PAR sensor added to New Zealand climatological site.
February 2003 -- Plans are underway to add a PAR sensor (LI-COR LI-190SA Quantum) to each climatological site (on the UV datalogger). Currently, five sites have this PAR sensor -- West Lafayette, IN; Geneva, NY; Logan, UT; Starkville, MS and Pawnee, CO -- and the remaining sites will be outfitted over the next year when Bill and George make their annual site visits.
October 2002 -- New research site added in Greenbelt, Maryland at Goddard Space Flight Center.
October 2002 -- New climatological site added at Raleigh, North Carolina.
September 2002 -- Publications page has a new Modeling category. New publications have been added.
August 2002 -- Our web page has a new look.
June 2002 -- Database version has been upgraded.
May 2002 -- All data available from our web page has been through quality checks. Quality control codes are available when you download the data.
April 2002 -- Our webserver has been upgraded. Response time has improved.
April 2002 -- The Second International Conference of Ultraviolet Ground- and Space-based Measurements, Models, and Effects, 23-27 October 2002, Hangzhou, China. The due day of abstracts has been extended to April 25, 2002.
November 2001 -- The New Zealand climatological site is now in service.
June 2001 -- Installed the first UVRSS instrument from Yankee Environmental Systems, Inc. at Table Mountain, Colorado. Data from this instrument can be viewed in real-time.
July 2001 -- Updated all maps to show recent changes in the climatological network sites, and updated the large ecoregions map with legend to show all of the past and current locations where our instruments have been deployed.
August 2001 -- Plans are underway to install a full climatological site in New Zealand, colocated at the NIWA Lauder facility, scheduled for the week of 19 November. NIWA is a leader in the study of UV-B radiation, and this collaboration will facilitate data intercomparisons between their network and ours.
UV-B Monitoring and Research Program
News from 2003 -