Ultraviolet resources over Northern Eurasia

• ·New climatology of UV resources has been obtained over Northern Eurasia.
• Open body fraction was accounted for better quantifying vitamin D dose threshold.
• The distribution of UV resources can significantly deviate from latitudinal dependence.
• The UV optimum is simultaneously observed for people with different skin types.
• ·These conditions occupy larger area in the West than in the East part of the continent.

We propose a new climatology of UV resources over Northern Eurasia, which includes the assessments of both detrimental (erythema) and positive (vitamin D synthesis) effects of ultraviolet radiation on human health. The UV resources are defined by using several classes and subclasses – UV deficiency, UV optimum, and UV excess – for 6 different skin types. To better quantifying the vitamin D irradiance threshold we accounted for an open body fraction S as a function of effective air temperature. The spatial and temporal distribution of UV resources was estimated by radiative transfer (RT) modeling (8 stream DISORT RT code) with 1 × 1° grid and monthly resolution. For this purpose special datasets of main input geophysical parameters (total ozone content, aerosol characteristics, surface UV albedo, UV cloud modification factor) have been created over the territory of Northern Eurasia. The new approaches were used to retrieve aerosol parameters and cloud modification factor in the UV spectral region. As a result, the UV resources were obtained for clear-sky and mean cloudy conditions for different skin types. We show that the distribution of UV deficiency, UV optimum and UV excess is regulated by various geophysical parameters (mainly, total ozone, cloudiness and open body fraction) and can significantly deviate from latitudinal dependence. We also show that the UV optimum conditions can be simultaneously observed for people with different skin types (for example, for 4–5 skin types at the same time in spring over Western Europe). These UV optimum conditions for different skin types occupy a much larger territory over Europe than that over Asia.