Progress 04/01/07 to 03/30/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The UVMRP supports the agricultural and atmospheric research communities by providing high quality data and data products that characterize the geographic and temporal distribution of UV-B solar irradiance, the effects of increased or diminished UV-B on crops, native and invasive plants, and animals, and by facilitating the use of these measurements directly or as input to climate and crop yield predictive models. The USDA, steward of agriculture for the nation, is concerned that changes in UV-B levels could adversely affect food and fiber production throughout the USA. USDA initiated the UVMRP to provide a mechanism for scientists from USDA, universities, federal and state agencies, and other public and private institutions from which to leverage expertise and resources from a long-term program to evaluate the effects of UV-B on crops, animals and ecosystems. Irradiance data and guidance for using this data are provided to researchers studying the impact of UV-B on agricultural activities and products, on human health and on the long-term effects of climate change. UV-B is not typically monitored at weather stations throughout the USA. UVMRP is the only national network that is continuously monitoring UV-B irradiance. UVMRP maintains a national network of 37 monitoring stations distributed throughout the USA, located in rural areas close to or within agricultural research facilities to collect UV-B and solar irradiance data necessary for use in local, regional and national scale research. UVMRP distributes irradiance data, data products, and research tools to stakeholders through its web interface. Users are now able to download multiple years of data directly from the web site without needing to contact UVMRP to process these requests. The user can now download any of the measured irradiances individually, instead of grouped by location, streamlining the data access process. UV Index and synthesized continuous spectra weighted by specific biological functions are now directly available from the web site. (The downside is we now have less direct contact with the users of our data.) UVMRP supports research in the effects of UV-B on plants and materials which thus far has resulted in hundreds of papers that have been presented (and published) primarily at remote sensing and atmospheric optics conferences. UVMRP continues to develop (through its Center of Remote Sensing and Modeling for Agricultural Sustainability) an Integrated Agricultural Impact Assessment System which will be sufficiently comprehensive to include crop growth models, ultraviolet and visible solar radiation, Earth's climate, air and water quality models, and satellite and in-situ observations. The goal is to achieve credible and quantitative assessments of key stress factors, and evaluate alternative cultural practices for sustainable agriculture production. Work on the cotton modules is nearly complete and work on the soybean modules has begun. Five agriculturally significant crops will ultimately be incorporated as modules: cotton, soybean, corn, wheat and rice. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
The UVMRP has accumulated over 12 years of UV-B irradiance data and over 14 years of visible light irradiance data toward the long-term goal of determining the presence and magnitude of any trends in these irradiance levels. The overall collection rate of all irradiance data since the project began is 97%. Eleven years of UVMRP data was used by researchers at Colorado State University and University of Idaho in a study of trends and interannual variability of surface UV-B radiation across the USA. Cotton yields as modeled by the Integrated Agricultural Impact Assessment System were found to agree to within 15% of the actual yields over a 27 year time span for the 14 states of the cotton belt. This provides partial validation that the model can achieve its stated goal of providing credible and quantitative assessments of key stress factors to allow policy makers to evaluate alternative cultural practices vital for sustainable agriculture production. The UVMRP provided UV data to climate researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne (UIUC) for comparison with satellite retrievals to support on-going climate change studies. The UVMRP provided UV and visible irradiance data from 1992 to the present to environmental researchers at Princeton University studying drought issues. The UVMRP provided Vitamin-D weighted UV-B data from 2006 to 2008 from all sites in USA to bioscience researchers at Quest Diagnostics Inc. for proprietary research. The UVMRP provided erythemal weighted data from all sites for 2002 to researchers at the National Institute for Water and Atmosphere in New Zealand for correlation with similar New Zealand data. The UVMRP continues to provide data to researchers at NASA who are studying the correlation of ground-based measurements with those retrieved by satellites, to validate both sets of data for use by researches using each of these datasets. The UVMRP provided daily erythemal weighted irradiances from all sites for 2005 to Plant and Soil Science researchers at Mississippi State University studying correlation with satellite retrieved data. The UVMRP provided un-weighted and Caldwell-weighted UV-B data from the Big Bend National Park, TX site for product engineers at Agco Corp. for proprietary research. The UVMRP provided UV and visible irradiance data from 10 sites in southwestern USA from 1998 to 2008 for engineers at a solar power generation company for evaluating potential locations for their solar power generation plants. UVMRP provided isopleths maps of UV-A data across the continental USA to engineers at an industrial coatings manufacturer for evaluating the service life of their coatings. The UVMRP's data and instruments at Desert Research Institute's Storm Peak Laboratory in Colorado are used by the local high school students for science projects. The UVMRP has participated in UV-B effects studies that quantify plant and animal response to elevated or diminished levels of UV-B. Crop response algorithms have been incorporated into climate/crop models.
Publications
- Wang, X.L., W. Gao, J.R. Slusser, J. Davis, B. Olson, S. Janssen, G. Janson, W. Durham, R. Tree, and R. Deike. 2008. USDA UV-B monitoring system: an application of centralized architecture. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, doi:10.1016/j.compag.2008.04.006
- Liu, C., W. Gao, Z. Gao, S. Xua. 2008. Improvements of regional evapotranspiration model by considering topography correction. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability V, Vol. 7083, 70830L-1, doi: 10.1117/12.806210
- Liu, C.S., W. Gao, Z.Q. Gao, and B.Y. Du. 2008. Land surface temperature retrieval of different land use types from ETM+ image. Journal of Nanjing Institute of Meteorology, Vol. 31, No. 4, 503-510
- Xie, X., W. Gao, Z. Gao. 2008. A Method for Estimating the Incident PAR on Inclined Surfaces. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability V, Vol. 7083, 70831L, doi: 10.1117/12.806210
- Xie, X., W. Gao, Z. Gao. 2008. Estimation of Land Photosynthetically Active Radiation in Clear Sky Using MODIS Atmosphere and Land Products. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability V, Vol. 7083, 70830O-1, doi: 10.1117/12.806210
- Xu, C., J.H. Sullivan, W.M. Garrett, T.J. Caperna, S. Natarajan. 2008. Impact of solar ultraviolet-B radiation on the proteome in soybean lines differing in flavonoid contents, Phytochemistry 69:38-48.
- Xu, C., S. Natarajan and J.H. Sullivan. 2008. Impact of Solar Ultraviolet-B radiation on the antioxidant defense system in soybean lines differing in flavonoids biosynthesis, Environmental and Experimental Botany 63:39-48.
- Zou, L., W. Gao, T. Wu, Q. Lu, Y. Zhang. 2008. Numerical simulation by the Common Land Model (CLM) of the soil moisture over China during the summer of 2006, Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability V, Vol. 7083, 708314-1, doi: 10.1117/12.806210
- Bao, Y. W. Gao, Z. Gao. 2008. Estimating winter wheat biomass based on LANDSAT TM and MODIS data. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability V, Vol. 7083, 70831L, doi: 10.1117/12.806210
- Barnes, P.W., S.D. Flint, J.R. Slusser, W. Gao, and R.J. Ryel. 2008. Diurnal changes in epidermal UV transmittance of plants in naturally high UV environments. Physiologia Plantarum, Vol.133-2, 363-372
- Belnap, Jayne, S.L. Phillips, S. Flint, J. Money and M. Caldwell. 2008. Global change and biological soil crusts: effects of ultraviolet augmentation under altered precipitation regimes and nitrogen additions. Global Change Biology,14,670-686,doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01509.x
- di Sarra, A., D. Fua, M. Cacciani, T. Di Iorio, P. Disterhoft, D. Meloni, F. Monteleone, S. Piacentino, and D. Sferlazzo. 2008. Determination of ultraviolet cosine-corrected irradiances and aerosol optical thickness by combined measurements with a Brewer spectrophotometer and a multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer, Appl. Opt., 47, 6142-6150
- Flint, S.D., C.L. Ballare, M.M. Caldwell, and R.L. McKenzie. 2008. Comment on "Extreme environments in the forests of Ushuaia, Argentina" by Hector D'Antoni et al. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 35, L13710, doi: 10.1029/2008GL033570
- Gao, W., H. Wang. 2008. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability, Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 7083, 0277-786X
- Hicke, J. A., J. Slusser, K. Lantz, and F. G. Pascual. 2008. Trends and interannual variability in surface UV-B radiation over 8-11 years observed across the United States. Journal Geophys. Res., 113, D21302, doi: 10.1029/2008JD009826
- Hulsen, G., J. Grobner, A. Bais, M. Blumthaler, P. Disterhoft, B. Johnsen, K. O. Lantz, C. Meleti, J. Schreder, J. M. Vilaplana Guerrero, and L. Ylianttila. 2008. Intercomparison of erythemal broadband radiometers calibrated by seven UV calibration facilities in Europe and the U.S.A, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 4865-4875
- Kanaga, M.K., R.J. Ryel, K.E. Mock, Pfrender, M.E. 2008. Quantitative-genetic variation in a phenotypically diverse dominant tree species. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 38:1690-1694
- Lantz, K., P. Disterhoft, J. Slusser, W. Gao, J. Berndt, G. Bernhard, R. Booth, J. Ehramjian, L. Harrison, G. Janson, P. Johnston, P. Kiedron, R. McKenzie, M. Kimlin, P. Neale, M. O.Neill, V.V. Quang, G. Seckmeyer, T. Taylor, S. Wuttke, and J. Michalsky. 2008. The 2003 North American interagency intercomparison of ultraviolet spectroradiometers, part A: scanning and spectrograph instruments. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 2, 023547
- Liu, S.Y., X.Z. Liang, W. Gao, and H. Zhang. 2008. Application of climate-weather research and forecasting model (CWRF) in China: domain optimization. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Vol.32, No.3, 457-468
- Shi, R., H. Zhang, J. Sun, W. Gao, D. Zhuang and Z. Niu. 2008. Responses of plant biochemical substances to reflectance spectra at leaf and canopy scales. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability V, Vol. 7083, 70830X-1, doi: 10.1117/12.806210
- Singh, S.K., G. Surabhi, W. Gao, and K.R.Reddy. 2008. Assessing genotypic variability of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.]Walp.) to current and projected ultraviolet-B radiation. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology, Vol. 93, 71-81
- Singh, S.K., V.G. Kakani, D. Brand, B. Baldwin and K.R. Reddy. 2008. Assessment of cold and heat-tolerance of winter-grown canola cultivars by pollen-based parameters. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science 194:225-236.
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Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07
Outputs
We continue to collect data from 40 sites in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, including spectral ultraviolet (UV) and visible radiation, erythemally weighted UV, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and other variables. The overall data completeness for 2007 is 98%. Modules and software packages were implemented to provide daily sums of UV-A, UV-B, erythemal irradiance, and Flint- and Caldwell-weighted biologically active irradiances, to improve data quality, and speed up Internet access. Experiments were conducted in growth chambers at Mississippi State University to determine the effects of enhanced UV-B radiation and high temperature on cowpeas. Each stressor showed significant adverse impacts on both physiological processes and vegetative growth, with greater damages evident when the enhanced UV-B level was accompanied with high temperature. Furthermore, the plants failed to retain flowers under such treatments. The effects of UV-B radiation and
soil moisture on leaf litter decomposition were investigated through experiments in a greenhouse at CSU, and the results are currently being analyzed. Experiments were also carried out to evaluate and quantify the effects of UV radiation on the early development of soybean (the phenylpropanoid pathway). The GOSSYM and cotton2k cotton growth simulation models were reconstructed to incorporate the boundary surface condition and soil profile of the CWRF regional climate model in order to couple them. The simulations of the GOSSYM model over the 14 state U.S. cotton belt using 27-years of climate data show good agreement with measured yields from the USDA records, with an average difference of less than 15%. This coupled model is being used to quantify the impact on cotton yields of enhanced UV-B radiation combined with high temperatures. Our senior scientists chaired two international academic conferences and published two volumes of conference proceedings on UV effects, environment,
ecosystem, sustainability, and UV monitoring. Scientists published 23 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, international conference proceedings, and transactions. Included among these publications are algorithms to derive new products from our datasets and new methods to retrieve column ozone and other atmospheric variables from our measurements. Some of these publications describe the development of climatology products (UV, aerosol, column ozone) while others compare our datasets with satellite observations or various networks. The publications also include results from experiments and simulations about the UV-B effects, climate changes, and sustainability. We also participated in local and national events to propagate and publicize the knowledge of UV radiation and its effects. Two graduate students were enrolled and advised by our senior scientist for their M.S. and PhD studies. Three graduate students received their PhD degrees under the guidance of our senior
scientist.
Impacts
Our datasets are being used by agricultural researchers to assess the risks of UV-B radiation and climate change upon agriculture, by human health researchers evaluating UV effects on public health and UV-affected disorders, by ecological researchers examining the link between UV irradiance and the possible spread of brucellosis from the Yellowstone bison herd to surrounding cattle, by environmental researchers to develop a climatology of UV, aerosols, and atmospheric ozone, by remote sensing researchers to establish ground truth references, and by educators to demonstrate real-world uses of scientific data. All these activities have propelled a better understanding of UV radiation, its variation, and its effects on agricultural crops, ecosystems, environment, and human health. The importance of monitoring UV radiation along with other climatic variables as part of the climate change research and evaluation is further recognized by scientists and policy makers due to
the knowledge gained from the research using our datasets. In 2007, people from higher UV irradiance areas such as Florida and California consulted us with their concerns about the potential UV damage to their skin and eyes. People from the industry consulted with us about the potential damage of UV radiation to polyester fibers. The experiments with cowpeas in growth chambers at Mississippi State University revealed that the enhancement of UV-B radiation will impose significant adverse impacts on all tested physiological processes and measurements, including photosynthesis, accumulation of chlorophyll fluorescence, cell membrane thermostabilty (CMT), total chlorophyll, carotenoid, and phenolics. Remarkable reductions in vegetative processes were also observed, including plant height, leaf area, and dry matter. These damages are aggravated when enhanced UV is combined with a high temperature. Modeling simulations of the fully coupled GOSSYM-CWRF system show that a UV-B daily dose of 8
kJ/m2/day will cause a reduction of 1-7% in cotton yields in the U.S. cotton belt. This reduction could be as high as 40% if UV-B irradiance should increase to 18 kJ/m2/day. These results have attracted more interest from scientists and policy makers, and we gained better understanding about UV effects on U.S. agriculture at a national scale. Based on this work, we proposed in-depth research into this area, which is now funded by EPA. The development of an improved synthetic spectrum model enables us to derive continuous spectral data from our discrete channel measurements. This model allows us to provide users with different biologically-weighted action spectra. Work continues on developing a calibration procedure which uses a triad of instruments at Mauna Loa Observatory to transfer these sun-based calibrations to the radiometers at the other sites. Preliminary results indicate a precision of better than 2% and an accuracy of 5% are possible.
Publications
- Belnap, Jayne, S. L. Phillips, S. Flint, J. Money, and M. Caldwell. 2008. Global change and biological soil crusts: effects of ultraviolet augmentation under altered precipitation regimes and nitrogen additions. Global Change Biology. 14, 1-17.
- Adler-Golden, S.M., J.R. Slusser. 2007. Comparison of Plotting Methods for Solar Radiometer Calibration. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. Volume 24, Issue 5, 935-938.
- Gao, W., and S. Ustin. 2007. Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability III. Proceedings of SPIE, Volume 6679 532 pages.
- Gao, W., Q.F. Lu, Z. Gao, W. Wu, J.R. Slusser. 2007. Correlation analysis of snow depth retrieved from SSM/I with precipitation and temperature over China. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability IV, 667913. Published by SPIE, Bellingham, WA, USA.
- Gao, Z, and W. Gao. 2007. The spatiotemporal change of ecological capital and the effects from the climate change and land use/cover change in the northern slope of the Tianshan mountains, China. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability IV, 66790J. Published by SPIE, Bellingham, WA, USA.
- Kerr, J. B., and J. M. Davis. 2007. New methodology applied to deriving total ozone and other atmospheric variables from global irradiance spectra. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D21301.
- Liu, C., W. Gao, Z. Gao. 2007. The study of responses of remote sensing based ET and LST to LUCC, The Journal of Agricultural Engineering. 8, 1-8.
- Liu, C.S., W. Gao, and Z. Gao. 2007. A study of retrieve land surface temperature and evapotranspiration in response to LUCC based on remote sensing data. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability IV, 66791F. Published by SPIE, Bellingham, WA, USA.
- Lu, Q.F., W. Gao, Z. Gao, W. Wu, C. Dong, and Z. Yang. 2007. Construction of land data assimilation system based on EnKF technology and community land model. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability IV, 667912. Published by SPIE, Bellingham, WA, USA.
- Michalsky, J. J., P. W. Kiedron. 2007. Comparison of UV-RSS spectral measurements and TUV model runs for clear skies for the May 2003 ARM aerosol intensive observation period, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 7, 17401-17427.
- Michalsky, J., P. Kiedron. 2007. Comparison of UV-RSS Spectral Measurements and TUV Model Runs During the May 2003 ARM Aerosol Intensive Observation Period, One century of UV Radiation Research, Davos, Switzerland, page 151, 18-20 September.
- Thomas, Taylor E., Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, James R. Slusser, Graeme L., Stephens, and Christian D. Goering. 2008. An Operational Retrieval Algorithm for Determining Aerosol Optical Properties in the Ultraviolet. Journal of Geophysical Research. 113, D03201, doi: 10. 1029/2007JD008661, 2 February.
- Thines, N., L. Shipley, J. Bassman, J. Fellman, D. Mattison, J. Slusser, W. Gao. 2007. Effects of Enhanced UV-B Radiation on Plant Chemistry: Nutritional Consequences for a Specialist and Generalist Lagomorph. Journal of Chemical Ecology. Volume 33, Number 5, 1025-1039.
- Wang, X.L., W. Gao, B. Olson, J.M. Davis, and J.R. Slusser. 2007. Dependence of erythemally weighted UV radiation on geographical parameters in the United States. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability IV, 667903. Published by SPIE, Bellingham, WA, USA.
- Zou, L.J., W. Gao, T. Wu, and X. Xu. 2007. A method to compute solar radiation at surface in any time interval based on NCEP reanalysis. In Remote Sensing and Modeling of Ecosystems for Sustainability IV, 66790R. Published by SPIE, Bellingham, WA, USA.
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