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UV Index monitoring in Europe

2017; Springer Science+Business Media; Volume: 16; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1039/c7pp00178a

1474-9092

Alois W. Schmalwieser, Julian Gröbner, M. Blumthaler, Barbara Klotz, Hugo De Backer, David Bolsée, R. Werner, Davor Tomšić, Ladislav Metelka, Paul Eriksen, Nis Jepsen, Margit Aun, Anu Heikkilä, Thierry Duprat, H. Sandmann, Tilman Weiss, A. F. Bais, Zoltán Tóth, Anna Maria Siani, Luisa Vaccaro, Henri Diémoz, Daniele Grifoni, G. Zipoli, Giuseppe Lorenzetto, Boyan Petkov, Alcide di Sarra, Francis Massen, Charles Yousif, Alexandr Aculinin, Peter den Outer, Tove Svendby, Arne Dahlback, Bjørn Johnsen, Julita Biszczuk-Jakubowska, Janusz W. Krzyścin, Diamantino Henriques, Natalia Chubarova, Predrag Kolarž, Z. Mijatović, D. Groselj, A. Pribullová, Juan Ramon Moreta Gonzales, Julia Bilbao, J.M. Guerrero, A. Serrano, Sandra Andersson, Laurent Vuilleumier, Ann R. Webb, John O’Hagan,

Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols

The UV Index was established more than 20 years ago as a tool for sun protection and health care. Shortly after its introduction, UV Index monitoring started in several countries either by newly acquired instruments or by converting measurements from existing instruments into the UV Index. The number of stations and networks has increased over the years. Currently, 160 stations in 25 European countries deliver online values to the public via the Internet. In this paper an overview of these UV Index monitoring sites in Europe is given. The overview includes instruments as well as quality assurance and quality control procedures. Furthermore, some examples are given about how UV Index values are presented to the public. Through these efforts, 57% of the European population is supplied with high quality information, enabling them to adapt behaviour. Although health care, including skin cancer prevention, is cost-effective, a proportion of the European population still doesn't have access to UV Index information.