Enhancement of UV radiation by cloud effect in NE of Brazil

Abstract

This paper reports a detailed analysis of ground-based measurements of cloud-enhanced global solar and UV radiation in NE Brazil in the city of Recife. It was found that (a) the phenomenon of UV enhancement, above clear sky model, is not uncommon and that it occurs on at least eight months; (b) the cumulative duration can reach 13 minutes; (c) there is a clear seasonal effect, and the probability of occurrence on a monthly basis shows two peaks, one in March and another in October; and (d) the most extreme UV radiation was 70.4 W/m2, approximately 6 W/m2 higher than the clear sky UV radiation. The extreme values should be taken into account in the study of effects related to the UV index and biological effects. Two statistical models also were elaborated, to estimate the UV solar radiation, in which the first is for all sky conditions and the second exclusively for situations where the global solar radiation is equal to or higher than 1367 W/m2, resulting from the enhancement effect caused by a particular configuration of the clouds. The statistical indicatives for both models presented, respectively, MBE% of 3.09 and 0.48% and RMSE% of 15.80 and 3.90%.