Journal article
Compilation and spatio-temporal analysis of publicly available total solar and UV irradiance data in the contiguous United States
Environmental pollution (1987), Vol.253, pp.130-140
10/2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.06.074
PMID: 31306820
Abstract
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, the majority of which is caused by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) irradiance, which is one component of sunlight. National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program at CDC has collaborated with partners to develop and disseminate county-level daily UV irradiance (2005–2015) and total solar irradiance (1991–2012) data for the contiguous United States. UV irradiance dataset was derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and solar irradiance was extracted from National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB) and SolarAnywhere data. Firstly, we produced daily population-weighted UV and solar irradiance datasets at the county level. Then the spatial distributions and long-term trends of UV irradiance, solar irradiance and the ratio of UV irradiance to solar irradiance were analyzed. The national average values across all years are 4300 Wh/m2, 2700 J/m2 and 130 mW/m2 for global horizontal irradiance (GHI), erythemally weighted daily dose of UV irradiance (EDD) and erythemally weighted UV irradiance at local solar noon time (EDR), respectively. Solar, UV irradiances and the ratio of UV to solar irradiance all increased toward the South and in some areas with high altitude, suggesting that using solar irradiance as indicator of UV irradiance in studies covering large geographic regions may bias the true pattern of UV exposure. National annual average daily solar and UV irradiances increased significantly over the years by about 0.3% and 0.5% per year, respectively. Both datasets are available to the public through CDC's Tracking network. The UV irradiance dataset is currently the only publicly-available, spatially-resolved, and long-term UV irradiance dataset covering the contiguous United States. These datasets help us understand the spatial distributions and temporal trends of solar and UV irradiances, and allow for improved characterization of UV and sunlight exposure in future studies.
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•The first UV irradiance dataset for all counties in contiguous US for public access.•National solar and UV irradiances increased significantly over study periods.•UV and solar irradiances, and the ratio increased towards the South and with altitude.•Using solar irradiance as indicator in large geographic regions may bias UV exposure.•These new datasets can improve UV exposure estimates in future epidemiology studies.
The UV irradiance dataset is currently the only publicly-available, spatially-resolved, and long-term UV irradiance dataset covering the contiguous United States.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Compilation and spatio-temporal analysis of publicly available total solar and UV irradiance data in the contiguous United States
- Creators
- Ying Zhou - Environmental Health Tracking Section, Division of Environmental Health Practice and Science, National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USAXia Meng - Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USAJessica Hartmann Belle - Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USAHuanxin Zhang - Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USACaitlin Kennedy - Environmental Health Tracking Section, Division of Environmental Health Practice and Science, National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, USAMohammad Z Al-Hamdan - Universities Space Research Association, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35805G, USAJun Wang - Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USAYang Liu - Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Environmental pollution (1987), Vol.253, pp.130-140
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.06.074
- PMID
- 31306820
- ISSN
- 0269-7491
- eISSN
- 1873-6424
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000104, name: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, award: NNX14AG01G, NNX16AQ28G
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/2019
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering; Iowa Technology Institute; Physics and Astronomy; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984104810502771
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