A VALIDATION-STUDY OF THE ROBERTSON-BERGER METER

An evaluation of the Robertson-Berger meter was done in order to address the question of whether instrumental and calibration factors can cause what might be interpreted as a change in the ground level solar ultraviolet-B (UV-B) flux. The evaluation consisted of reviewing information about the instrumentation and components in the published literature, a review of the records and procedures in both operations and calibrations, and examination of two instruments including temperature tests of them. It is shown that the instrument is basically stable and that the calibration procedures did not support data drift. There is a slight dependance of the two instruments upon temperature, 0.3-degrees-C/y and 0.6-degrees-C/y, which is not sufficient to lead to the reported UV-B trends of the order of 0.7 %/y. There is negligible temperature drift in the control electronics.