A team of researchers in the U.S. and Germany has measured the highest level of ultraviolet radiation ever recorded on the Earth's surface. The extraordinary UV fluxes, observed in the Bolivian Andes only 1,500 miles from the equator, are far above those normally considered to be harmful to both terrestrial and aquatic life. The results are being published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Environmental Science.
"These record-setting levels were not measured in Antarctica, where ozone holes have been a recurring problem for decades," says team leader Nathalie A. Cabrol of the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center. "This is in the tropics, in an area where there are small towns and villages."