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Well, it's also survivor bias. Melanoma rates are very high in Australia, which has lots of pasty people of European extraction toiling under some of the most
by Clewza313 5y ago
Well, it's also survivor bias. Melanoma rates are very high in Australia, which has lots of pasty people of European extraction toiling under some of the most brutal UV indexes on the planet.
- ddeck 5y agoIndeed. Australia and New Zealand have the highest incidence rate for melanoma in the world. Ozone depletion plays a role, but interestingly, the Earth is also closer to the Sun during the southern hemisphere summer, resulting is ~7-10% greater solar UV intensity: Australia’s unusually harsh sunshine results mainly from its location in the Southern Hemisphere. The elliptical orbit of the Earth places the Southern Hemisphere closer to the sun during its summer months than the Northern Hemisphere during its summer. This means that the summer sun in Australia is 7 to 10 percent stronger than similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Air currents high in the atmosphere sometimes bring ozone-depleted air from Antarctica’s ozone hole to Australia, letting even more UV through. And Australia’s sunny weather and relatively pollution-free air provide little additional protection from harmful UV rays https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/aerosols-over-australia https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/aerosols...