This is a blog on solar radiation, science, electronics, the ocean, and how these things play out in our culture and in our role in global change. Expect to see some writing on how solar radiation, particularly ultraviolet UV radiation, drives landscape-wide patterns in marine communities!
First of all, what is UV?
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is 'invisible' light that is higher energy than blue light! It is what gives people sunburns!
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UV is high energy light!
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Why do we care about UV?
Besides giving us a sunburn once in a while, UV also has the potential to influence organisms in natural landscapes.
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UV can cause skin cancer for humans, stop larval developmental, and lower a plant's ability to do photosynthesis (photosynthesis translation: make sugar from sunlight and carbon dioxide in the air).
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How has UV changed over the years? Have humans changed UV levels?
Ozone in the middle atmosphere blocks harmful UV radiation. Humans have contributed to the ozone hole above Antarctica by releasing chemicals used as refrigerants, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), into the atmosphere. However, this really is an environmental science and policy success story. In the 1970s scientists started reporting the link between CFCs and ozone depletion. Today production of CFCs is regulated by the Montreal Protocol. Though challenges remain, the ozone hole seems to be recovering. For more info on ozone, try the Ozone Hole Watch website by NASA or theOzoneHole.com.
How to plants and animals protect themselves from UV?
It's interesting to think about how there must be some sort of UV adaptation for everything that is exposed to the sun. For animals like us, with skin, we can produce sunscreening pigments (melanin for us and hipposudoric acid for hippos!) that does a pretty good job of protecting us. Tiny organisms that don't have layers of skin for protection can make similar sunscreen pigments, but sometimes these pigments aren't able to provide them with complete protection. Sea urchin larvae, for instance, are able to inherit sunscreen pigments from their mothers but still have developmental problems due to UV if they stay in shallow water (Lesser 2010). Cyanobacteria living out of the water produce both intracellular and extracellular sunscreens, perhaps allowing them to live in a UV-exposed environment.
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Hippos make a pinkish sunscreen called hipposudoric acid!
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