Adaptation of an empirical model for erythemal ultraviolet irradiance Foyo Moreno, Inmaculada Alados-Arboledas, Inmaculada Alados Arboledas, Lucas Atmospheric composition and structure (transmission and scattering of radiation) Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (radiative process) In this work we adapt an empirical model to estimate ultraviolet erythemal irradiance (UVER) using experimental measurements carried out at seven stations in Spain during four years (2000–2003). The measurements were taken in the framework of the Spanish UVB radiometric network operated and maintained by the Spanish Meteorological Institute. The UVER observations are recorded as half hour average values. The model is valid for all-sky conditions, estimating UVER from the ozone columnar content and parameters usually registered in radiometric networks, such as global broadband hemispherical transmittance and optical air mass. One data set was used to develop the model and another independent set was used to validate it. The model provides satisfactory results, with low mean bias error (MBE) for all stations. In fact, MBEs are less than 4% and root mean square errors (RMSE) are below 18% (except for one location). The model has also been evaluated to estimate the UV index. The percentage of cases with differences of 0 UVI units is in the range of 61.1% to 72.0%, while the percentage of cases with differences of ±1 UVI unit covers the range of 95.6% to 99.2%. This result confirms the applicability of the model to estimate UVER irradiance and the UV index at those locations in the Iberian Peninsula where there are no UV radiation measurements. 2014-07-22T10:18:14Z 2014-07-22T10:18:14Z 2007 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Foyo-Moreno, I.; Alados-Arboledas, I.; Alados-Arboledas, L. Adaptation of an empirical model for erythemal ultraviolet irradiance. Annales Geophysicae, 25(7): 1499-1508 (2007). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/32734] 0992-7689 1432-0576 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/32734 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Copernicus Publications; European Geosciences Union (EGU)