UV Exposition During Typical Lifestyle Behavior in an Urban Environment

Abstract

In this study the personal exposure to solar UV radiation in an urban environment was measured. Lifestyle in an urban environment is characterized by staying indoors during most of the day. Furthermore, the ambient UV radiation is mitigated by shadowing by buildings. The aim of the study was to find out activities which may contribute to UV-induced health risk in a low exposure environment. Exposure was measured during typical outdoor activities: shopping, walking, sitting in a sidewalk café, cycling, sightseeing and at an open-air pool (solar elevation: 10 degrees-70 degrees). Measurements were taken with an optoelectronic device which was fixed on the chest. Besides the UV Index we used the sun burn time (SBT) for risk assessments. Generalization of our results was made by calculating ratios of personal exposure to the ambient UV radiation. UV exposure was by far the highest when our study subject stayed at the swimming pool. The SBT was around 30 min for melano-compromised skin type. For all other activities, except shopping, the SBT range up to 1 h. With respect to photodamage we found that at high solar elevation (>45 degrees) photoprotective measures should be applied for certain activities even within a city.

Solar ultraviolet radiation incident upon reef snorkelers determined by consideration of the partial immersion of dosimeters in the natural ocean environment

“…Compared to measurements made to sunbathers, who also spend a significant period of time in a horizontal orientation, the measurements of ER made here show that snorkelers experience similar ratios of ambient exposure as those experienced by beachgoers (7) and poolside sunbathers (8), with this ratio increasing during periods when the sun is positioned at oblique SZA ranges. Siani et al (7) measured the ER to the chests of beachgoers using PS dosimeters.…”

“…This study (6) determined that Hawaiian beachgoers spend an average of 3 hours at the beach and experience an exposure of approximately 1040 Jm -2 of erythemally effective UVR in that time. Exposure distributions to seaside sunbathers (7) and those received in proximity to a pool (8) have also been studied. However, specific measurements of UVR exposure to snorkelers are not present in the literature.…”

Is Multidirectional UV Exposure Responsible for Increasing Melanoma Prevalence with Altitude? A Hypothesis Based on Calculations with a 3D-Human Exposure Model

“…Aside from existing studies for Austrian conditions (e.g., Schauberger et al [17], Schmalwieser et al [18,19]), a variety of exposure measurements on different subgroups can be found in the literature. Due to different methodological approaches, findings reported in these studies are not directly comparable.…”

Using urban canyon geometries obtained from Google Street View for atmospheric studies: Potential applications in the calculation of street level total shortwave irradiances

“…Certain features and materials like glass windows, trees or walls exert different effects on the incoming radiation (i.e. reflection, filtering and absorption) [4,[23][24][25][26]. Although it is not within the scope of this article to analyse these particular effects, the proposed methods will allow researchers to map SVFs for large cities at a very high resolution, while maintaining detailed descriptions of urban canopy shapes and colours, which in turn could be related to the underlying materials.…”

“…Because of the unique microclimate conditions created by the specific geometry of each canyon, urban geometries affect the energy performance of buildings and, since main outdoor activities occur at these spaces, they also play a crucial role in human thermal comfort in streets [2,3]. Human exposure to sunlight within urban canyons is also a relevant health issue due to the diverse biological effects of ultraviolet light [4,5]. Some of the future aims of our study will include spectral irradiance calculations within urban canyons in order to determine urban solar UV patterns, as an aid for health studies.…”