Monthly average peak UV index value, 1981–2017

Monthly average peak UV index value, 1981–2017

New Zealand's Environment Reporting Series: The Ministry for the Environment and Statistics New Zealand

Monthly average peak UV index values at Invercargill, Lauder (Otago region), Christchurch, Paraparaumu (Wellington region), and Leigh (Auckland region). The strength of UV light is expressed as a solar UV index, starting from 0 (no UV) to 11+ (extreme).
Exposure to the sun's ultraviolet (UV) light helps our bodies make vitamin D, which we need for healthy bones and muscles. However, too much exposure to UV light can cause skin cancer. New Zealand has naturally high UV levels, and monitoring UV levels helps us understand the occurrence of skin cancer.
Ozone in the upper atmosphere absorbs some of the sun’s UV light, protecting us from harmful levels. The amount of UV radiation reaching the ground varies in relation to changes in the atmospheric ozone concentrations. The Antarctic ozone hole lies well to the south of New Zealand and does not have a large effect on New Zealand’s ozone concentrations.
More information on this dataset and how it relates to our environmental reporting indicators and topics can be found in the attached data quality pdf.

NIWA

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 New Zealand

Attribution 4.0 International

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

4/09/1981–28/02/2017; Invercargill (since 1981), Leigh (since 1993), Lauder (since 1994), Paraparaumu (since 2000), and Christchurch (since 2002)

https://data.mfe.govt.nz/table/89467-monthly-average-peak-uv-index-value-19812017/

AC17/063

Dataset

eng-nz

skin cancer, melanoma, ozone concentrations, Environmental reporting series: Our atmosphere and climate 2017