Abstract
Abstract. A personal UV dosimeter that can quantitatively assess high exposure solar UVA exposures has been developed. The chemical polyphenylene oxide has been previously reported on its ability to measure high UVB exposures. This current research has found that polyphenylene oxide, cast in thin film form, is responsive to both the UVA and UVB parts of the solar spectrum. Further to this, the UVB wavelengths were filtered out with the use of mylar. This combined system responded to the UVA wavelengths only and underwent a change in optical absorbance as a result of UVA exposure. Preliminary results indicate that this UVA dosimeter saturates steadily when exposed to sunlight and can measure exposures of more than 20 MJ/m2 of solar UVA radiation with an uncertainty level of no more than ±5%.
Highlights
Exposure to UV radiation is known to be a causative factor in the induction of skin cancers and other sun-related disorders
Over 1600 Australians die from skin cancer each year and a further 380 000 Australians are treated for skin cancer each year (NCCI, 2003; AIHW, 2004; AIHW, 2005)
To test the reproducibility of the dosimeters for the measurement of solar UVA, ten dosimeters were exposed simultaneously to solar UV over a three hour period on a horizontal plane. These exposures were conducted on an unshaded sports oval in autumn under clear sky conditions to ensure that the dosimeters were exposed to all of the incident solar UV radiation, both direct and diffuse radiation from the sky
Summary
Exposure to UV radiation is known to be a causative factor in the induction of skin cancers and other sun-related disorders. Most acute responses of humans to UV exposure occur as a result of UVB (280 to 315 nm) exposures, as these wavelengths are highly effective in creating a human biological response This does not mean that UVA radiation has no impact on human UV exposures and health. UVA can cause erythema in human skin, yet, the exposures required to create such a response is much larger than UVB radiation. It is essential to decrease the amount of exposure to damaging solar UV radiation that the population experiences. This requires methods to understand the solar UV radiation environment that humans live in. Spectroradiometers and broadband meters are more useful for analysing the effect of changing atmospheric variables (e.g. clouds, aerosols and ozone) upon UV dosages
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