UV radiation and skin cancer in Norway

A distinct increase in skin cancer incidences is observed since the registration started in Norway in the 1950s. As UV radiation is assumed to be the main risk factor for skin cancer, hourly values of the UV irradiance were reconstructed for the period 1957–2005 for 17 of the Norwegian counties (58–70°N). For reconstruction, a radiation transfer model is run with total ozone amount and cloud information as meteorological input. Reconstructed hourly erythemally weighted UV irradiances for about 5 years are compared to measurements at four stations, two stations representing the north–south extension of Norway, and two stations at about 60°N representing the eastern inland – Western coastal contrasts. The agreement between reconstructed and measured UV varies between 0% for the northernmost site to 10–15% overestimation for the other locations. For clear sky, a reasonable agreement between reconstructed and measured data was found for all stations, while for overcast, an overestimation of 10–20% was found for all but the northernmost station. Both the cancer incidences and the reconstructed UV values have a distinct north–south increase. The UV increase towards south is mostly due to increasing solar elevation. The west to east increase is much smaller, and differences in UV are due to differences in both cloud optical thickness and total cloud amount. One additional outcome from this work is that long-term UV-data are reconstructed for Norway, data that can be used in further biological and medical studies related to UV effects.