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The UV-B Monitoring and Research Program (UVMRP) is a data collection and research program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), headquartered at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The UVMRP supports two unique and complimentary program components:
UV-B Monitoring Network
High energy ultraviolet solar radiation can significantly damage plants, crops, animals, and ecosystems, alone or in combination with other environmental stress factors such as temperature and moisture. To address these concerns, in 1992 the USDA established the UV-B Monitoring and Research Program at Colorado State University to provide cost-effective monitoring of UV-B levels over wide geographic areas of the United States. The program's primary objective is continued operation of the 37 station national network of UV-B monitoring instruments to deliver high quality data, data products, and services in support of agricultural research describing the geographic distribution of UV-B solar irradiance, effects of increased or diminished UV-B on crops, native and invasive plants, and animals, and to facilitate the use of these measurements directly or as input to climate and crop models.
The data is collected automatically every night, processed for quality control, and made available on this web site, typically within one day of its collection. Most data is available back through 1997, with some additional data available back to 1993. Please click on the above Monitoring Network menu item for information about our locations and instruments. Please click on the above Data Access menu item for our data and data products.
Integrated Agricultural Impact Assessment System
Agriculture is entering a critical period with regard to climate change, crop stress and potential related impact to crop productivity. Decision makers need reliable and relevant crop yield and economic assessment tools. The objective of this UVMRP program component is to develop an Integrated Agricultural Impact Assessment System. This system will couple the Earth's climate, ultraviolet-visible solar radiation and comprehensive crop growth models, as well as assimilating satellite and in situ observations to study climate-crop interactions and related economic impacts stemming from crop response to a wide range of stressors, including temperature, moisture, nutrient, UV radiation, CO2 concentration, aerosols and other air pollutants. Please click on the above Agricultural Impact menu item for more information.