Introducing an Absolute Cavity Pyrgeometer (ACP) for Improving the Atmospheric Longwave Irradiance Measurement (Poster)

Advancing climate change research requires accurate and traceable measurement of the atmospheric longwave irradiance. Current measurement capabilities are limited to an estimated uncertainty of larger than +/- 4 W/m2 using the interim World Infrared Standard Group (WISG). WISG is traceable to the Systeme international d'unites (SI) through blackbody calibrations. An Absolute Cavity Pyrgeometer(ACP) is being developed to measure absolute outdoor longwave irradiance with traceability to SI using the temperature scale (ITS-90) and the sky as the reference source, instead of a blackbody. The ACP was designed by NREL and optically characterized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Under clear-sky and stable conditions, the responsivity of the ACP is determined bylowering the temperature of the cavity and calculating the rate of change of the thermopile output voltage versus the changing net irradiance. The absolute atmospheric longwave irradiance is then calculated with an uncertainty of +/- 3.96 W/m2 with traceability to SI. The measured irradiance by the ACP was compared with the irradiance measured by two pyrgeometers calibrated by the WorldRadiation Center with traceability to the WISG.