@article {4418,
	title = {GIS tool to predict photosynthetically active radiation in a Dry Valley},
	journal = {Antarctic Science},
	year = {2020},
	month = {04/2020},
	abstract = {<p>Understanding primary productivity is a core research area of the National Science Foundation\&$\#$39;s Long-Term Ecological Research Network. This study presents the development of the GIS-based Topographic Solar Photosynthetically Active Radiation (T-sPAR) toolbox for Taylor Valley. It maps surface photosynthetically active radiation using four meteorological stations with ~20 years of data. T-sPAR estimates were validated with ground-truth data collected at Taylor Valley\&$\#$39;s major lakes during the 2014\&ndash;15 and 2015\&ndash;16 field seasons. The average daily error ranges from 0.13 mol photons m<sup>-2</sup> day<sup>-1</sup> (0.6\%) at Lake Fryxell to 3.8 mol photons m<sup>-2</sup> day<sup>-1</sup> (5.8\%) at Lake Hoare. We attribute error to variability in terrain and sun position. Finally, a user interface was developed in order to estimate total daily surface photosynthetically active radiation for any location and date within the basin. T-sPAR improves upon existing toolboxes and models by allowing for the inclusion of a statistical treatment of light attenuation due to cloud cover. The T-sPAR toolbox could be used to inform biological sampling sites based on radiation distribution, which could collectively improve estimates of net primary productivity, in some cases by up to 25\%.</p>},
	keywords = {LTER-MCM, ArcMap, automated weather station, digital elevation model, ice-covered lakes, McMurdo Dry Valleys, R model, Taylor Valley},
	doi = {10.1017/S0954102020000218},
	url = {https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/gis-tool-to-predict-photosynthetically-active-radiation-in-a-dry-valley/BD0BE4FF6A8F3DAAF32D698797287078},
	author = {Acosta, Dimitri R. and Peter T. Doran and Myers, Madeline}
}
