The GALEX-SDSS NUV & FUV Flux Density and Local Star-Formation Rate
  We calculate the local UV flux density in the GALEX MIS FUV and NUV bands
using redshifts provided by SDSS DR7. Luminosity functions are calculated for
the overlapping MIS and SDSS sample, allowing flux densities to be measured and
the local star formation rate (SFR) to be calculated using volumes much larger
than previous FUV based estimates. We calculate flux densities for a dust
corrected low redshift (0.013 < z < 0.1) sample of f[FUV] = 22.24 \pm 3.13
\times 10^25 h ergs s^-1 Hz^-1 Mpc^-3, f[NUV] = 38.54 \pm 5.30 \times 10^25 h
ergs s^-1 Hz^-1 Mpc^-3. The star formation rate density found is
0.0312\pm0.0045 h M\odot yr^-1 Mpc^-3. This is larger than published rates
recently found using the UV implied SFR, though the major discrepancy is the
correction made for dust attenuation and once this is dealt with consistently
the results agree well. These values are also consistent with recent Halpha
derived SFRs. Once cosmic variance is taken into account most of the recent
SFRs at low redshift (z < 0.3) found in the literature can be brought into
agreement, however the lowest redshift values (z < 0.045) do appear to be
significantly lower.
