UV-Radiation in the Past: Reconstruction and Long-term Changes in Austria

Series of daily erythemal UV-dose are reconstructed for the last 30 years of the 20th century in Austria and its changes during that period with respect to observed changes in total ozone and cloud cover discussed. The reconstruction method is based on the relationship between long-term global radiation and sunshine duration records and existing measurements of erythemal UV at several locations. Through comparison with different data sources efforts are made to assure high data quality for all input parameters. The results for reconstructed daily sums show high correlations (0.95-0.99) with observed values compared on a yearly and seasonal basis throughout the overlapping period 1998-2010. Assessed from the reconstructed data, long-term variability of erythemal UV daily dose for two time periods has been quantified (1977-1995, 1996-2010). Special emphasis is put on the investigation of changes in UV due to observed trends in clouds and sunshine duration in the Austrian Alpine regions during the last decades. The earlier period shows significant changes between +4.1 %/dec and +6.9 %/dec at six stations in Austria, mainly due to significant decreases in total ozone column of up to -3.7 %/dec. Positive significant trends of around +2%/dec are found in cloud and aerosol modification factors at most of stations along with observed positive trends in sunshine duration, being statistically significant at eastern and southern stations. In spite of ozone layer recovery since the mid 1990s, the latter period does not reveal any statistically significant changes in erythemal UV irradiation.