Is Multidirectional UV Exposure Responsible for Increasing Melanoma Prevalence with Altitude? A Hypothesis Based on Calculations with a 3D-Human Exposure Model.
In a recent study, melanoma incidence rates for Austrian inhabitants living at higher altitudes were found to increase by as much as 30% per 100 m altitude. This strong increase cannot simply be explained by the known increase of erythemally-weighted irradiance with altitude, which ranges between 0.5% and 4% per 100 m. We assume that the discrepancy is partially explainable by upwelling UV radiation; e.g., reflected by snow-covered surfaces. Therefore, we present an approach where the human UV exposure is derived by integrating incident radiation over the 3D geometry of a human body, which enables us to take upwelling radiation into account. Calculating upwelling and downwelling radiance with a radiative transfer model for a snow-free valley and for snow-covered mountain terrain (with albedo of 0.6) yields an increase in UV exposure by 10% per 100 m altitude. The results imply that upwelling radiation plays a significant role in the increase of melanoma incidence with altitude.
Institute of Meteorology and Climatology, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover 30419, Germany. schrempf@muk.uni-hannover.de.
Michael
M
Schrempf
Institute of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria. daniela.haluza@meduniwien.ac.at.
Daniela
D
Haluza
Institute of Meteorology, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna 1190, Austria. stana.simic@boku.ac.at.
Stana
S
Simic
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig 38116, Germany. stefan.riechelmann@ptb.de.
Stefan
S
Riechelmann
Deutscher Wetterdienst, Offenbach 63067, Germany. Kathrin.Graw@dwd.de.
Kathrin
K
Graw
Institute of Meteorology and Climatology, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover 30419, Germany. Seckmeyer@muk.uni-hannover.de.
Gunther
G
Seckmeyer
UV radiation; albedo; alpine region; altitude effects; erythema; human exposure; malignant melanoma; snow cover
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