Development of a passive doas system to retrieve atmospheric pollution columns in the 200 to 355 nm region

In recent years several techniques have been developed to measure and monitor the pollution of the air. amongthese techniques, remote sensing using optical methods stands out due to several advantages for air qualitycontrol applications. a passive differential optical absorption spectroscopy system that uses the ultraviolet regionfrom 200 to 355 nm of the solar radiation is presented. the developed system is portable; therefore it is practicalfor real time and in situ measurements. the enhanced wavelength range of the system is intended to detect theultraviolet light penetration in the mexican valley considering the solar zenith angle and the altitude. the systemwas applied to retrieve atmospheric so2 columns emitted either by anthropogenic (power plant) or natural sources(volcano), reaching a detection limit of about 1 ppm. the measurement of the penetrating solar radiation on theearth surface at the uvc range is presented and the possibility to measure pollution traces of some contaminantsas o3, no2 and aromatic compounds in real time and in situ in the ultraviolet region is discussed.