The Role of Solar and UV Radiation in Environmental Stress Assessment
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of solar and UV radiation components in environmental stress assessment and to test the contribution of the UV radiation variable in a modified environmental stress index (ESI). Meteorological variables, including ambient temperature, wet bulb temperature, black globe temperature, wind velocity, relative humidity, global radiation, and ultraviolet radiation, were measured during the summer (June-September) at three locations in Israel, and during the summer (February-March) at two locations in New Zealand. These five databases were used to calculate the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and the environmental stress index (ESI). Accordingly, analysis of the weight for each parameter from which ESI and WBGT were constructed was evaluated from the three databases collected in Israel, and validated for the two databases collected in New Zealand. In addition, the weight and the contribution of the UV radiation to the thermal load were evaluated in an attempt to include it as a variable in a new modified ESI. These data were collected every 10 minutes over 24 hours and contained over 51,000 measurements for each variable in Israel, and over 18,000 measurements for each variable in New Zealand. Data and statistical analysis revealed that the UV radiation did not contribute to the environmental stress assessment and that the GR component in the ESI was sufficient for heat load assessment. Furthermore, mathematically, the UV radiation was found to be a negative term in the modified ESI. This is probably due to the fact that the UV component was already included in the GR spectrum. In conclusion, the ESI should include the global radiation spectrum (280-2800nm) rather than UV radiation spectrum
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA421205
Entities
People
- Antonios Vitalis
- Daniel S. Moran
- Kent B. Pandolf
- Richard Parker
- Yuval Heled
Organizations
- United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine