Sunburn in Ireland but not in Dubai

The Browser

I've been in Dubai for a year now and have never been sunburned, even in the so-called "winter" here, when it's 28 degrees and I'm on a beach for a few hours.

Yet when I was back in Ireland last June I was scalded when the temperature was under 23.

It seems that the sun is "stronger" in Ireland, strange as that might seem.

Is this a known phenomenon or am I mistaken?

spurious

Ozone layer differences I think. I only transitted through Dubai but the deadening temps at 2am were enough for me. It must be draining to be in it all the time.

clappyhappy

I lived in Dubai for 8 years, and trust me I got burnt there on a couple of occasions. Stupidly I know. I used to mostly walk to & from work there, about a mile each way, and while you would be sweating and need a shower before work I found it fine, plenty of water though. But last week here in Ireland there was one day and I couldn't stick the heat outside and it was probably more than 20c difference in temp. I find the heat way different in both places, as mentioned it may be the ozone???

Heroditas

Ozone? Stronger sun?
Both extremely unlikely I would have thought.

I remember someone telling me years ago that there was so much sand in the atmosphere, it prevents people getting too scorched.
Back in the 80s my father was in Bahrain for a few months with the ESB and came back without a colour despite being out in the sun most days. He said it was always quite hazy due to the sand in the air all day and you really only got scorched on the highest part of the island where you actually got above the haze/sand.

Also, the humidity is far less in places like Dubai so even if it's a good bit hotter there, it doesn't seem as bad as here where we have quite high relative humidity.... Nowhere near as bad as the likes of Forida though, thankfully.

Israeli Superiority

I reckon you just let your guard down thinking that you'd be used to the sun because of living in a country close to the equator.

SpaceTime

You can sometimes burn faster in climates like Ireland quite simply because there is almost no dust in the air.

If you're in the gulf region or drier climates in general, there's a significant amount of fine dust always present in the atmosphere that has a scattering effect on light i.e. makes the sun somewhat hazier.

If you're on an island in the ocean, like Ireland or on a major sea coast with windows blowing inland all the time from the sea e.g. Western France, you'll get much more dust free skies.

Air over Ireland, even if it's not raining in Ireland, is likely to have passed through rain fall on the Atlantic most of the time so it's pretty much dust free.

That's the theory I've heard about why you'd burn faster in Ireland than in hotter climates.

The human factor's a big issue too though. If the weather's presenting you with 20-30C during sunny periods, you're more likely to go out into the sun. If it's presenting you with 30-40C during sunny periods you're more likely to escape the heat and seek shelter.

So, in Ireland on summer's day which can be quite nice and pleasant you're more likely to spend time in the sun than somewhere where that would be unbearably / uncomfortably hot.

There's also some degree of ozone depletion in the northern hemisphere, but not as bad as the southern hemisphere and Ireland is actually very far north. Our climate's moderated by the oceans, but compared to say North America we're on similar latitude to Alberta, Canada.

There is a lesser sized ozone hole in the Northern hemisphere. It grows and contracts periodically.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/03/arctic-ozone-layer-hole-expands

Have a google.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/03/arctic-ozone-layer-hole-expands

skin cancer rates are higher in northern europe than in southern
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-info/cancerstats/types/skin/incidence/uk-skin-cancer-incidence-statistics#world

have a look at the graph showing the rates by country

April O Neill

The Browser wrote: »

I've been in Dubai for a year now and have never been sunburned, even in the so-called "winter" here, when it's 28 degrees and I'm on a beach for a few hours.

Yet when I was back in Ireland last June I was scalded when the temperature was under 23.

It seems that the sun is "stronger" in Ireland, strange as that might seem.

Is this a known phenomenon or am I mistaken?

Could be down to whether there's a breeze or not?

Popoutman

Breezes make absolutely no difference to the burn level in the same length of time as a still day with the same UV intensity.

A good breeze will however fool you into staying out longer as you don't feel the heat buildup in your skin as much - though the UV damage does not release any significant heat.

April O Neill

Popoutman wrote: »

A good breeze will however fool you into staying out longer as you don't feel the heat buildup in your skin as much

Right, so I stand by what I said, the breeze making it feel cooler may have caused him to stay out longer. That's IF it was breezier here.

Geomy

I think we burn more here due to the moisture in the air, it causes a magnifying effect, just like when you're advised not to water delicate plants when it's too hot. ..

Popoutman

Geomy wrote: »

I think we burn more here due to the moisture in the air, it causes a magnifying effect, just like when you're advised not to water delicate plants when it's too hot. ..

Untrue unfortunately - higher humidity levels with warm temperatures would lead to more UV being absorbed - note that water is not a very good UV filter
see here . As well, there's no magnifying effect due to water vapour in the air.

Simple fact is that there's more UV available at ground level here than other places on clear dust-free cloud-free dry days.

Finton90

Noticed the same thing when i came back from asia, never once go burned back in Ireland a few days and i looked like rudolf the red noosed reindeer

Irish Stones

I will report my experience.
As you can see I'm Italian, live in Italy and I do love sunshine.
I could bask in "our" sun for hours and I only get a little redder or more tanned than usual when the sun is very good, like today.
But everytime me and my wife go to Ireland for our holidays, a few hours outdoors on a sunny day have our noses red and scorched and faces get hot.
To get the same effects over here we should spend a whole day on a high hill or mountain.
So, my experience says that Irish sun has a different "energy" or stronger effects even on used-to-sun skins.
When 30 days ago we came back home people joked us on our tan and asked me if we really were in Ireland rather than Spain.
I think SpaceTime's theory is correct.

SpaceTime

It would be interesting to see some actual UV measurements from Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, Canada etc and compare them with more southerly countries. I haven't really seen a lot of data on UV at ground level and I would assume the ozone layer monitoring's largely based on modelling.

I'd like to see actual UV readings from the weather stations and compare with say Italy or Spain or something like that. It'd be interesting to see what we're actually being exposed to, especially in the context of quite high skin cancer rates.

The other thing I've noticed in Ireland is plastic pipes bleaching out much more than they seem to do in say Spain (have lived in both places). I always assumed it might be because of the composition of the plastic, but now I'm kinda wondering are they actually being exposed to significantly more UV.

The overall index in Ireland and Britain is probably lower due to cloud cover, but I'd be interesting in the readings for a similar period of clear sky in different areas rather than the daily / hourly average.