Solar UV radiation has both adverse and beneficial effects to human health. Using models (a radiative transfer model coupled to a building shading model), together with satellite and surface measurements, we studied the un-obstructed and obstructed UV environments in a sub-tropical urban environment featured with relatively high pollution (aerosol) loadings and high-rise buildings. Seasonal pat...

The survivability of resistant terrestrial microbes, bacterial spores of Bacillus subtilis, was investigated in the BIOPAN facility of the European Space Agency onboard of Russian Earth-orbiting FOTON satellites (BIOPAN I -III missions). The spores were exposed to different subsets of the extreme environmental parameters in space (vacuum, extraterrestrial solar UV, shielding by protecting mater...

[1] The USGS’s Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO) dedicated ground‐based lunar calibration project obtained photometric observations of the Moon over the spectral range attainable from Earth (0.347–2.39 mm) and over solar phase angles of 1.55°–97°. From these observations, we derived empirical lunar surface solar phase functions for both the highlands and maria that can be used for a wide range o...

Long-term variations in solar radiation at Earth's surface (S) can affect our climate, the hydrological cycle, plant photosynthesis, and solar power. Sustained decreases in S have been widely reported from about the year 1960 to 1990. Here we present an estimate of global temporal variations in S by using the longest available satellite record. We observed an overall increase in S from 1983 to ...

Solar irradiance spectral measurements were performed during a total solar eclipse. The spectral effect of the limb darkening to the global, direct irradiance and actinic flux measurements was investigated. This effect leads to wavelength dependent changes in the measured solar spectra showing a much more pronounced decrease in the radiation at the lower wavelengths. Radiative transfer model re...

A small set of independent variables generally seems to suffice when attempting to describe the spectral response of a vegetation canopy to incident solar radiation. This set includes the soil reflectance, the single-scattering albedo, canopy transmittance, reflectance and interception, the portion of uncollided radiation in the total incident radiation, and portions of collided canopy transmit...

Nowadays, with the development of the economy, the demand for energy is increasing rapidly while the energy supply is growing shorter and shorter. Researches indicate that energy consumption in the residential sector counts for the main parts of the total energy consumption. This paper evaluates the effect of building orientation on exposure to the solar radiation in a NESW orientated case o...

omets are icy leftovers from the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Because they have been stored at cold temperatures and their interiors have been protected by an overburden of insulating layers, comets contain the most unaltered remnants from the birth of our solar system. For this reason, determining their chemical composition and physical properties is a fundamental...