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Comparison of biologically damaging spectral solar ultraviolet radiation at a southern hemisphere sub-tropical site

Parisi, Alfio V. and Sabburg, Jeff M. and Kimlin, Michael G. (2003) Comparison of biologically damaging spectral solar ultraviolet radiation at a southern hemisphere sub-tropical site. Physics in Medicine and Biology 48:N121-N129.

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Abstract

The first dataset of a complete year of biologically damaging spectral UV at a sub-tropical latitude in the southern hemisphere has been presented. The new data provides a baseline dataset against which comparisons can be made in the future to establish if there have been any long term trends in the biologically damaging UV. The general shape of the variation of the daily biologically damaging exposures through the year depends on the relative response of the various action spectra at the different wavelengths. The ratio of the daily erythemal to actinic exposures drops by approximately 20 to 25% from winter to summer. The ratio of the erythemal to DNA exposures drops by approximately 50% over the same period. In contrast, the ratio of the erythemal to plant damage exposures is higher in summer compared to winter. This is due to the changes in the relative proportion of UVA to UVB wavebands and relative responses of the different action spectra. The relative changes for the different action spectra show that the erythemal action spectrum cannot be used as a proxy for other biologically damaging responses.

Item Type:Journal Article
Status:Published
Subjects:210000 Science - General
ID Code:7965
Deposited By:Field, Sharyn G
Deposited On:04 June 2007
Alternative Locations:http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/PMB
Additional Information:For more information, please refer to the publisher's website (link above) or contact the author: m.kimlin@qut.edu.au