Increased summertime UV radiation in New Zealand in response to ozone loss

Long-term decreases in summertime ozone over Lauder, New Zealand (45 degree s S), are shown to have Led to substantial increases in peak ultraviolet (U V) radiation intensities. In the summer of 1998-99, the peak sunburning UV radiation was about 12 percent more than in the first years of the decade. Larger increases were seen for DNA-damaging UV radiation and plant-damaging UV radiation, whereas UV-A (315 to 400 nanometers) radiation, which is ins ensitive to ozone, showed no increase, in agreement with model calculations . These results provide strong evidence of human-induced increases in UV ra diation, in a region where baseline levels of UV radiation were already rel atively high.