Hi John, This hazard is being been taken seriously. I have seen design plans for such a UV indicator in a major circulation magazine. (Sky and Telescope?). This was published around the time of the initial antarctic hole in the ozone story and the reports of sheep in Patagonia with fried eyeballs. Being antipodean, you should be worried!
The UV indicator dial looked much like the Martian dial of Bill Nye and Woody Sullivan. The circular lines did not just show the altitude of the sun or rate the hazard as a simple cosine function. The thickness of the ozone layer penetrated by UV rays at different angles was also considered. Now I wish I had kept the article and built the dial. The Weather Channel here gives routine reports of the UV hazard. A theoretical graph calculated using the same math as the dial shows the hazard rating (0 to 10) and the number of Dobson Units of UV radiation. Local factors like cloud cover are not considered. "This is not a joke." I have my own very sensitive sensor of UV radiation. A very bald head. Roger Bailey Walking Shadow Designs N 51 W 115 where the noon sun has risen from 15.5 to almost at 60 degrees! John Pickard wrote: >Ross, > >I just LOVED your posting re using a dial to warn of the dangers of >sun burn. > >Methinks you were talking just a bit tongue in cheek! Anyone with two >neurones knows that in either bright sun OR glary cloud-obscured sun, >there is a HIGH risk of sun burn (and if cumulative, of skin cancer). >I am not sure that we actually need the indicator that you >conceptualised so nicely. > >Look at it this way. If those at risk are so dumb that they have >to hold hands to have a synapse before they know they will be >burnt, will they be able to understand what the SBDI (sun burn >danger indicator) says???? > >I doubt it. > >BUT, I did like the way you explored the notion. Very elegant, and in >a way that I like. There is a lot of creative fun in taking something >like this and developing it. OK, so it is a bit impractical, but it >is still intellectually satisfying. A fair bit of my research is a >bit like that! > >So, thanks for both stimulating my intellect, and giving me something >to chuckle over > >John > >(One who visits a dermatologist every year to have begnin (so far) >things removed from my skin. The product of decades of abuse doing >field work with no shirt or in a sleeveless shirt!) >
