Research

Community Involvement

Biospherical Instruments is active in several research communities by serving on international panels and contributing to assessment reports sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), NOAA, and others.
Travel_to_Palmer

Our involvement includes instrument systems and services, participation in field campaigns, and various levels of authorship on publications arising from these activities:

Lead and co-author of reports prepared by the Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP) of the Montreal Protocol under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). [2014–present] Learn More >

Lead author of assessments on ozone and UV radiation in the Arctic for State of the Climate Reports published annually by NOAA. [2011–present] Learn More >

Co-author, WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessments of Ozone Depletion [1988, 2002, 2006] Learn More >

Contributing author, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment [2004–2005] Learn More >

Member of the Steering Committee of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change [2011–2017] Learn More >

Member of the working group on UV-instruments of the Scientific Advisory Group for UV established by the World Meteorological Organization [1998–2010]

UV Monitoring

Biospherical Instruments has operated the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) UV Monitoring Network between its inception in 1988 and 2009.

BSI has been responsible for overseeing the network's operation, data processing, quality control, and dissemination of data, and presenting the results at conferences and in the peer-reviewed literature. Instruments located in Antarctica were transferred to NOAA in 2009 and BSI is responsible to this day for producing the network’s final data.

At the height of the network’s operation, locations included the South Pole (photo); two research stations at the Antarctic coast (McMurdo and Palmer); the city of Ushuaia at the tip of South America; the northern-most point of Alaska; and a research camp established at the top of Greenland’s ice sheet. An additional instrument is located at our company’s headquarters in San Diego and is used to this day for the calibration of customer instruments and technician training. The NSF and NOAA networks have produced one of the longest continuous Climate Data Records of UV radiation in existence.

UV-Monitoring-Network

Field Campaigns

BSI systems are continually deployed in field campaigns all around the world from different types of research vessels and platforms. The BSI science and support team frequently participates in these campaigns along with our industry partners and agencies of the U.S. Government, most notably NASA, NSF, NOAA, and the Navy.

COAST Campaign

In October 2011, BSI participated in the Coastal and Ocean Airborne Science Testbed (COAST) project headed by a team from NASA Ames, Moffett Field, California. BSI delivered the first COASTal Airborne In situ Radiometer (C-AIR) system—known at BSI as BioAIR—to the NASA Ames Research Center COAST team.

2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Observations of solar radiation during a total solar eclipse present a rare opportunity for testing computer models that simulate the transfer of radiation through the atmosphere. A total solar eclipse could be observed on August 21, 2017 across the United States, from Oregon in the West to South Carolina in the East. Germar Bernhard of BSI travelled to Smith Rock State Park, to perform measurements with BSI's new GUVis-3511 multi-filter radiometer. Read more about our observations and findings.

Publications

References to publications by the staff of Biospherical Instruments are listed below and organized by year. (P) indicates peer-reviewed publications. 

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