Utilization of Surface Radiation Network Data to Validate Numerical Weather Prediction Variables at NCEP

The numerical weather models at the National Weather Service's(NWS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) contain sophisticated radiation packages which distribute the shortwave and longwave radiation throughout all layers of the models. The down welling shortwave flux at the surface is a good indicator that the model is handling all the absorptive, transmissive, and reflective qualities of water vapor, CO₂, O₃, clouds, and the surface. Comparisons against observations from surface radiation networks will be presented and discussed.

Down-welling ultraviolet radiation is also observed by these surface radiation networks. For several years the observation data has been used to validate the UV Index forecasts. In doing so, much has been learned about the quality, characterization and calibration of the observing instrumentation. Validation efforts utilizing the surface ultraviolet radiation observations will be presented and discussed.