Instrument : US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Radiation Monitoring Data (USDARAD)
Instrument Categories
Radiometric
![Picture of the USDA radiometer at the SGP site](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20130218072006im_/http://www.arm.gov/instruments/images/usdarad.jpg)
General Overview
The USDA UV-B Monitoring and Research Program is a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES). The program was initiated in 1992, through a grant to Colorado State University, to provide information on the geographical distribution and temporal trends of UVB (ultraviolet -B) radiation in the United States.
The SGP ARM site is part of the CSREES's climatological network. All sites are instrumented with both UV and Visible MFRSR shadowband radiometers and broadband UV-B meters. For more details, see the External Data Center web page.
Output Datastreams
- usdarad : Visible MFRSR data from USDA
- usdaradaux : Auxiliary data for the USDA Visible MFRSR
- usdauvmfrsr : UV MFRSR data from USDA
- usdauvmfrsraux : Auxiliary data for the USDA UV MFRSR
Primary Measurements
The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant.
- Atmospheric moisture
- Atmospheric pressure
- Atmospheric temperature
- Shortwave narrowband diffuse downwelling irradiance
- Shortwave narrowband direct normal irradiance