Many commercially available net radiometers using polyethylene shields to protect their sensing surfaces have 5% of these surfaces covered with a highly reflective white paint. The purpose of this paint is to reduce the sensitivities of these instruments to short wave radiation and make them equal to a supposedly lower long wave radiation sensitivity. Theoretical considerations, however, yield no conclusive evidence for such a differential transmission of short and long wave radiation by thin films of polyethylene. Furthermore, rederivations of the net long wave radiation equations for the calibration chambers of J. P. Funk [J. Sci. Instrum. 36, 267 (1959); J. Geophys. Res. 67, 2753 (1962)] and L. J. Fritschen [J. Appl. Meteor. 2, 165 (1963); 4, 528 (1965)], who pioneered in the construction and evaluation of these instruments, indicate that certain approximations made in the original derivations completely account for the original 5% discrepancy. New experiments verify these findings and demonstrate the equality of short and long wave calibration constants for polyethylene shielded net radiometers without the customary 5% areal covering of white paint.
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July 1970
Research Article|
July 01 1970
The Relative Sensitivities of Polyethylene Shielded Net Radiometers for Short and Long Wave Radiation
Sherwood B. Idso
Sherwood B. Idso
U. S. Water Conservation Laboratory, Phoenix, Arizona 85040
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Rev. Sci. Instrum. 41, 939–943 (1970)
Article history
Received:
January 29 1970
Citation
Sherwood B. Idso; The Relative Sensitivities of Polyethylene Shielded Net Radiometers for Short and Long Wave Radiation. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 1 July 1970; 41 (7): 939–943. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1684729
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