The 2020 fire season includes the single largest fire in California’s history, the August Complex Fire. Ash and soot contained in wildfire smoke have a low albedo and can absorb incoming UV radiation. As a result, one would hypothesize that at a local level the surface UV irradiance dosage would change in areas leeward of large fires. To test this hypothesis, the direct and diffused UV irradiance recorded east of the August Complex Fire at the UVMRP station in Davis, CA were compared between 2020 and 2016. Direct and diffused UV irradiance levels at local noon of an entire year were compared between these two years, trying to identify how wildfire impacts surface UV. Using satellite imagery to determine when smoke was present in the skies over Davis, CA, this study investigated how UV irradiance changes during those time periods.
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