Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics www.atmos-chem-phys.net 1680-7316 1680-7324 8 20 2008 10.5194/acp-8-6309-2008 http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6309/2008/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6309/2008/acp-8-6309-2008.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/8/6309/2008/acp-8-6309-2008.pdf 6309 6323 2008-10-31 Reconstruction of erythemal UV-doses for two stations in Austria: a comparison between alpine and urban regions H. E. Rieder harald.rieder@env.ethz.ch F. Holawe S. Simic M. Blumthaler J. W. Krzyścin J. E. Wagner A. W. Schmalwieser P. Weihs Institute for Meteorology, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria Institute for Geography and Regional Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Division for Biomedical Physics, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland Institute of Medical Physics and Biostatistics, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria now at: Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland The aim of this study is the reconstruction of past UV-doses for two stations in Austria, Hoher Sonnblick and Vienna, using a physical radiation transfer model. The method uses the modeled UV-dose under clear-sky conditions, cloud modification factors and a correction factor as input variables. To identify the influence of temporal resolution of input data and modification factors, an ensemble of four different modelling approaches was calculated, each with hourly or daily resolution. This is especially important because we found no other study describing the influence of the temporal resolution of input data on model performance. Following the results of the statistical analysis of the evaluation period the model with the highest temporal resolution (HMC) was chosen for the reconstruction of UV-doses. A good agreement between modelled and measured values of erythemally effective UV-doses was found at both stations. In relation to the reference period 1976–1985 an increase in the erythemal UV-dose in Vienna of 11% is visible in the period 1986–1995 and an increase of 17% in the period 1996–2005 can be seen. At Hoher Sonnblick the corresponding increase is 2% and 9%. 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