Simulation of increasing UV radiation as a consequence of ozone depletion

摘要

UV plays a key roll in several biological functions. As consequence of the ozone depletion investigations to study the effects of UV radiation on human health and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have been carried out in laboratories and in the field. Experiments performed in laboratories, irradiating samples with lamps often present the inconvenience that light sources do not reproduce properly the solar spectrum. Field experiments are usually carried out comparing samples exposed to ambient irradiance (normal or increased) against 100% UV-B screened samples. This scenario also differs from the real situation of normal irradiance against UV-B increased irradiance. Some authors have solved this problem performing studies under ambient conditions, simulating the ozone depletion by supplementation of the UV-B radiation with lamps,. As part of the IAI CNR-26, "Enhanced Ultraviolet-B Radiation in Natural Ecosystems as an added Perturbation due to Ozone Depletion", mesocosms experiments were performed at Rimouski (Canada), Ubatuba (Brasil) and Ushuaia (Argentina) using the supplementing methodology. In this paper we introduce the design of the measurements and lamps setting and the methodology used to calculate the attenuation constant and the irradiance at the water column at the mesocosms during the experiment, emphasizing on the Ubatuba campaign.