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Research Group in Environmental Physics

General information

Meteorological station

The station is on the roof of Polytechnic School’s PII Building (41.96º N, 2.83º E 115m s.n.m.) and has been collecting various meteorological and radiation variables since the end of 1993. The acquisition systems and sensors were acquired with grants from the DGR (General Research Directorate) of the Government of Catalonia, the CIRIT (Interdepartmental Commission for Research and Technological Innovation), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the MCI (Ministry of Science and Innovation), through the NUCLIER, NUCLIEREX, NUCLIERSOL and NUBESOL projects, and from the University of Girona itself. It also maintains and acquires irradiance measurements to update the Map of Solar Radiation of Catalonia, for ICAEN (Catalan Institute of Energy).

The measurements are taken in an automated way and are mediated or integrated at different intervals. A daily maintenance and quality assurance protocol is carried out, which consists of verifying the levels and desiccants of each instrument, cleaning the domes and devices, overseeing communications and the times of dataloggers and computers, among other tasks. The data archives are also subsequently reviewed.

Below you can see the most important information from the instruments available.

Perspectiva3

Environmental temperature and relative humidity

  • Sensor: Vaisala HMP 35AC
  • Characteristics: Measures temperature with PT100 and measures humidity with HUMICAP® sensor
  • Measurement/recording:    Every second / Average every 5 minutes. 

Atmospheric pressure

  • Sensor: EZ430 from Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Inc. (EASI)
  • Characteristics: Barometer with Wheatstone bridge resistor integrated into a silicon diaphragm. Thermally compensated 
  • Measurement/recording:    Every second / Average every 5 minutes. 

Precipitation (rain)

  • Sensor: Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Inc. rain gauge (EASI)
  • Characteristics: Tipping rain gauge with electric signal generation system when tipped. 8” funnel. No snow heater.
  • Measurement/recording: Impulse count / Total since midnight, every 5 minutes. 

Wind speed and direction:

  • HelioCSSensor: EURO-II anemocinemometer and panel. 
  • Characteristics: 8-bit absolute optical encoder (resolution 1.4°)
  • Tachometric generator with optoelectronic decoupling (0-1000 Hz)
  • Minimum speed 0.3 m/s. Measurement/recording: Each second / Average wind speed, average unitary vector direction, and standard deviation of the direction, all every 5 minutes. 

Radiation is measured by automated sensors, but a Campbell-Stokes heliograph is also used to obtain sunshine through the classic burnt card method (from the 19th century). With respect to the automated measurements, they are in wideband in three regions of the electromagnetic spectrum:

  •      Irradiància ultraviolada eritemàtica (λ < 0.4 µm) 
  •      Irradiància solar o d'ona curta (0.28 < λ < 2.8 µm) 
  •      Irradiància infraroja, d'ona llarga, terrestre o tèrmica (2 µm < λ < 100 µm) 

Ultraviolet irradiance (erithematic)

  • Characteristics: Robertson-Berger sensor. The voltage measured is converted to irradiance to obtain the UV index. Thermostabilised, the temperature of the sensor is measured continuously.
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average every minute. 

Global solar irradiance

  • Sensor: Piranòmetres CMP21 de Kipp & Zonen.
  • Characteristics: Thermopile classified as "secondary standard" by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Spectral response almost flat between 0.28 µm and 2.8 µm.
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average and standard deviation every minute.

Global solar irradiance

  • Sensor: Li-Cor LI200SA pyranometer.
  • Characteristics: Silicon diode. Spectral response between 0.4 and 1.1 µm. 
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average and standard deviation every minute.

Diffuse solar irradiance

Seguidor2

  • Sensor: Piranòmetre CMP21 de Kipp & Zonen.
  • Característiques: Piranòmetre muntat sobre un seguidor Kipp & Zonen. 2AP with shading system. 
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average and standard deviation every minute.

Direct solar irradiance

  • Sensor: Pirheliòmetre CH1 de Kipp & Zonen.
  • Characteristics: Field of vision (FOV) of 5º. Spectral response 0.2 - 4 µm. Muntat sobre un seguidor Kipp & Zonen 2AP. Also the temperature of the sensor is measured with a Pt100 resistor.
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average and standard deviation every minute.

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) / Photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD)

  • Sensor: Li-Cor LI190SA Quantum Sensor.
  • Characteristics: Silicon diode. Limited spectral response to the PAR photosynthetic band (Photosynthetically Active Radiation, 0.4 – 0.7 µm). Filters to obtain a proportional response to the wave length.
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average every minute.

Infrared irradiance

  • Sensor: Pirgeòmetre CG4 de Kipp & Zonen.
  • Característiques: Muntat en seguidor Kipp & Zonen 2AP amb sistema ombrejador 
  • Measurement/recording: Each second / Average every minute.

These measurements are completed with spectral measurements in some wavelengths. 

Spectral irradiance in some wavelengths of the global and diffuse components of solar radiation

  • MFR7 1Sensor: MFR7 (MultiFilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer from Yankee Environmental Systems, YES), with silicon sensors for each channel.

  • Characteristics: Automated rotating band radiometer.
  • Measurement/recording: Every 20 seconds. 

Fisheye camera (Whole Sky Camera, WSC)

  • WSC 1Sensor: fisheye digital camera, mounted with shading system.
  • Recording:  Every minute, in JPG format.

Backscatter and cloud structure profile

  • Ceilo1Sensor: Vaisala CL-31 Ceilometer.
  • Characteristics: Allows atmospheric backscatter profiles to be obtained and the cloud base altitude to be determined, among other applications. It is based on LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology and a diode incorporates a laser that issues light pulses (at 910 ± 10 nm) in a vertical direction. The vertical resolution is 10 m. The measurement range is 30 m to 7,620 m. Altitudes are derived from profiles up to three cloud layers. Recording: Every 12 seconds

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