UV index

25 years ago, Toronto became the centre of the universe . . . for the UV index.(Toronto Star , Sat., May 27, 2017)

System of measuring the intensity of ultraviolet radiation from the sun spread round the world and helped reduce the hole in the ozone layer, while increasing awareness of the risks of skin cancer.
The front page of the Toronto Star on May 27, 1992, was deeply of the decade. Premiere Bob Rae

Ah, the Dobson spectrophotometer! I spent a happy couple of years with one. . .

Current interest is in how I’ve already recorded a UV index of 9 in Edinburgh, Scotland, in May. . .

Thanks M.P.C., very interesting :smiley:

I don’t wish to blow my own trumpet too hard but I was deeply involved with all this from 1987 to 2003. I actually started to promote the non-use of CFC-113 for cleaning printed circuit boards as early as 1967, not because of the ozone layer but a combination of cleaning efficiency and economics. It took many years before my process took off, mainly because of the Montreal Protocol. However, because of it, the Swiss Government commissioned me in 1988 to work with the UNEP Technical and Economics Assessment Panel on CFC ozone-depleting solvents. I’ve received numerous awards and citations from UNEP, the US EPA and various other bodies, including the prestigious UNEP Innovator’s Award that McElroy, Kerr, and Wardle also received. In fact, there were only two other recipients of the Award before 2007. I attach the list of citations with their and mine highlighted. [/trumpet-blowing]

Incidentally, the UV Index here yesterday reached 11 and is expected to do so again a bit later today and is forecast to reach 12 on Thursday, as measured with a cheapo detector (couldn’t afford a Brewer’s instrument!).


Very impressive, Devil. You at least were proactive, I just helped to measure the ozone!

Re UV index, UK is not expected to exceed 8 very often - especially this far north. But certain clouds allow “amplification”, just as with other solar radiation.