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Definition
The UV Index is an irradiance scale computed by multiplying the CIE erythemal irradiance integral in watts m-2 by 40.
The term "erythema" refers to the reddening of the skin due to sunburn.
Other irradiance integrals exist which describe other physical and biological effects of UV radiation.
However, this one has become the one used most often.
For a fuller description, including the calculation of CIE erythemal irradiance integral, click here.
UV Climate of Canada and the USA
The UV Index can be measured on the ground directly using the Brewer Spectrophotometer.
They are located at 13 sites in Canada and 21 sites in the United States.
(PDF or
GIF).
It can also be estimated indirectly from ground observations taken by pyranometers, combined with
information about the ozone layer, humidity and snow.
(Pyranometers measure solar radiation at all wavelengths, not just UV.)
There are 42 of these sites in Canada and 43 sites in the United States.
(PDF or
GIF).
In addition, the TOMS satellite takes readings once per day from which estimates can be made.
These cover the entire Earth on a grid of approximately 100 by 100 kilometres.
Climate maps
Climate tables
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From Brewer spectrophotometers
text
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From pyranometers
text
Plots, Graphs
Data
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Today's UV and ozone
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WOUDC - World Ozone and Ultraviolet Radiation Data Centre
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The use of pyranometers to estimate the ultraviolet index and the resulting climatology was described
in the paper,
"Estimating UV Index climatology over Canada",
by several scientists of Environment Canada, Experimental Studies section, and
published
in the
Journal of Applied Meteorology,
issue of March 2003.
The
data used in the preparation
is available.
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Recent UV data in the format used by the
WOUDC
is available at
our FTP site.
Warning: it has not yet been quality-controlled.
Older data can be obtained from the
WOUDC.
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