Aw. Schmalwieser et G. Schauberger, Operational nowcasting of the sun protection factor for the urban area of Vienna, J APPL MET, 40(4), 2001, pp. 836-842
A method was developed to produce hourly updated nowcasts of recommended su
n protection factors (SPF) for different photobiological skin types. Actual
UV (250-400 nm) measurements and a forecast of the UV index provide the ba
sis of the method. The method, used operationally for the urban area of Vie
nna, provides a useful tool to inform people about the use of sunscreens, t
hereby lowering the risk of health damage from overexposure to solar ultrav
iolet radiation. The validation of the nowcast shows that deviations from t
he measured daily dose depend on the time of the nowcast. Forecasts made 2
h before solar noon produce deviations of the daily dose of less than +/-0.
5 SPF (for skin type I) in 68% of all cases; forecasts made two or more hou
rs after noon were, in every case, within +/-0.5 SPF of the observed value.