Let's talk about UV-C
It's getting hot in here, but don't take off all your clothes.
I’ll preface this post by saying that I started out with an assumption, but ended up with a different conclusion. I do want to share this information about UV-C because I think it’s important to understand the true nature (and dangers) of UV-C. Especially from the sun.
Update 11-10-20241
What is UV-C?
This is a basic, elementary explanation of UV-A/B/C ultraviolet radiation. It’s not visible, however it is sometimes referred to as “light.”
Ultraviolet (UV) "light" is a type of electromagnetic radiation. UV light has a shorter wavelength than visible light. Purple and violet light have shorter wavelengths than other colors of light, and ultraviolet has even shorter waves than violet does; so ultraviolet is sort of "purpler-than-purple" light or "beyond violet" light.
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/atmosphere/ultraviolet-uv-radiation
The blurb below is the from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration radiation-emitting products website (current as of 8-19-2020)
UVA rays have the longest wavelengths, followed by UVB, and UVC rays which have the shortest wavelengths. While UVA and UVB rays are transmitted through the atmosphere, all UVC and some UVB rays are absorbed by the Earth’s ozone layer. So, most of the UV rays you come in contact with are UVA with a small amount of UVB.
This is what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has to say about UV-C.
UVC rays do not reach the Earth’s surface because they are completely absorbed by the atmosphere. Harmful effects from UVC rays are minimal.
And according to NASA, UV-C should be filtered out by the tropopause around 30 Km (18 miles) in altitude. Keep that in mind.
UV-A / UV-B / UV-C Impacts
UV-C can be beneficial or harmful. Really harmful in some cases. For example, UV-C is produced from welding machines and can quickly (within seconds) cause temporary eye damage; long-term or permanent damage with repeated or extended exposure without protection.
While UV-C doesn’t penetrate deeply into the skin for humans and animals, it does cause damage to the DNA of the cells it reaches. That goes for all forms of life, including plants.
UVC is the highest-energy, most-dangerous type of ultraviolet radiation, and causes adverse effects that can variously be mutagenic or carcinogenic.
On the beneficial side of things, UV-C germicidal lamps are common in many industries for disinfection of water, air, and surfaces. The UV-C radiation destroys the DNA and RNA of mold and bacteria if given enough “dwell time”, aka, exposure.
Even though I’ve studied it, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on ultraviolet radiation, but I can tell when something is not right.
About five years ago, I was doing some work outdoors in the middle of winter on a clear, sunny day (which I rarely do.) I noticed within about 5 minutes it felt like I was starting to get a sunburn on the back of my neck. I thought that was odd, considering the lower angle of the sun in the winter season.
I shrugged it off and forgot about it until I started noticing most plastics, paints, and other susceptible materials degrading and disintegrating more quickly than anticipated in direct sunlight. I chalked that up to shoddy materials from China and / or materials that lack UV inhibitors.
I thought, maybe I’m not crazy and perhaps others are witnessing this, so I started researching into solar radiation and extremes. I found several on YouTube who obtained their own meters and were examining the UV-A / B (and even UV-C, wait what?) throughout the seasons. The video below was from Mr.MBB333 in Arizona and he was monitoring and documenting the levels for several years on his YouTube channel. However, those videos have been set to private since this original post.
I did locate another video from someone in Santiago, Chile from October 2024 showing for the first time (in their recollection) the local UV levels hitting the 8 to 10 range. Substack currently doesn’t support embedding Odysee or Rumble videos, so I’ll include the link below.
Further research lead me to a very interesting study.
Deadly Ultraviolet UV-C and UV-B Penetration Study
In 2018 an independent study was conducted by three researchers using a spectral radiometer, which is the technical name for a wavelength and amplitude measurement tool. They set up the equipment on an equatorial tripod to keep the sensor facing directly at the sun for the duration of the testing.
The equipment was ordered from the vendor with the specifications that they would using using it to measure solar radiation. They were trained on the equipment, and the vendor provided both feedback and analysis of their data to help validate their readings.
What they found was a bit shocking. According to their data, UV-C radiation was reaching surface levels. How could this be? The FDA, EPA, and even NASA refute this.
The link below is for the press release after the study was published.
Transdyne Corporation Reveals Deadly Ultraviolet Radiation Reaching Earth's Surface
This team was trying to bring attention to findings and dispute the century-long claim that UV-C is completely filtered out by the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere.
On numerous occasions the assertion has been made that no UV-C radiation (100-290 nm) reaches Earth’s surface [16-18]. Here we dispute that assertion, using spectrometric measurements that indicate the probable debilitation of Earth’s biota caused by the levels of UV-C radiation we recorded over the course of one year.
The assertion from the study points to geo-engineering as the precursor of the findings. They say a reduction in the ozone layer due to stratospheric aerosol injection (using coal fly ash) was allowing the UV-C radiation to pass, at least to some degree.
Ongoing geoengineering may be causing a disruption of the ozone layer, endangering all life.
Their data in the chart below closely aligns with a previous study conducted by Dr. Hector D'Antoni (now retired) formerly with NASA Ames Research Center.
Measurement of solar irradiance spectra in the range 200-400 nm demonstrates conclusively that all wavelengths in that spectral range reach Earth’s surface, contrary to the widespread perception that all UV-C and the majority of UV-B never reaches the surface. We confirm the 2007 Herndon et al. surface UV-C measurements of D’Antoni et al. (2007) that were disputed (based on faulty computer model calculations of atmospheric ozone) and thereafter ignored by the geoscience community.
Source: Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science Int’l (14(2): 1-11, 2018; Article no.JGEESI.40245 ISSN: 2454-7352)
You can find the complete PDF of the research report and data at this link:
So where does Dr. Hector D'Antoni fit into this?
Previous Study
In 2007 a team of scientists conducted a survey over two mountain slopes near Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) at the southernmost tip of South America to investigate the effects of annual ozone hole that forms above Antarctica. With Tierra del Fuego being just a boat ride away from Antarctica, it’s well within the region of influence of the lower than average ozone layer.
D’Antoni et al. [25] published spectral irradiance measurements made on two mountain slopes in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina with elevations ranging 245-655 m. All of their published results showed detected radiation in the UV-C region.
Apparently, these results did not set well with the scientific community. Less than a year after the D’Antoni’s report was published, several researchers published their own study, rebutting the findings of D’Antoni and team.
Keep in mind, this was 10 years before the Transdyne Corporation study of 2018.
We maintain this study is flawed in its physical component (the UV-C measurements are not credible because they were obtained with an inappropriate instrument and they do not agree with theoretical predictions), and superficial in its approach to addressing biological impacts of enhanced solar UV radiation.
In fact, one of the researchers that helped publish the rebuttal article is here on Substack.
Conclusions
After reading Mr. McKenzie’s article above, I decided to dial back a bit on the possibility that UV-C radiation has been reaching Earth’s surface. If UV-C was reaching ground levels we’d be seeing major spikes in skin cancer and a mass die off of plants and trees. We’d also be seeing certain types of plastics quickly disintegrating in the sunlight (months versus years?) and other impacts that couldn’t be ignored.
I’ll close out here by saying that I'm still on the fence with all this. I do believe something is off with the amount of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface. Maybe it’s not UV-C, but just enhanced UV-A and UV-B.
Most mainstream science claims there have been no changes in solar irradiance over the past 10 or so years, so there’s no possibility that an increase in irradiance is causing “global warming.” I’m Putting that in quotes because even the term is questionable at best. There is no climate crisis / emergency in regards to CO₂.
But they also indicate (in one way or another), “they don’t know what they don’t know.”
Changes in the Total Solar Irradiance and climatic effects
It’s certainly not caused by CO₂. CO₂ has nothing to do with filtering UV radiation, that’s the job of O₃ (ozone) in the upper layer of the atmosphere.
However, if the amount of UV-A and UV-B radiation reaching Earth’s surface has fluctuated and / or increased over time, and that could explain some of the localized “heat domes” and heatwaves of recent years. It’s certainly a possibility with Earth’s weakening magnetic field.
There’s simply too much on to cover on that subject in one post, but you can get a head start on that from:
https://suspicious0bservers.org
Also, keeping in mind that the temperature “extremes” we’ve seen recently (the ones the media continues to push through falsified data and reddish weather temperature maps) are still nothing compared to the global heat extremes of the past.2
If you’re not already subscribed, please do so to get notified on our upcoming topic which is about the highest ever recorded UV index on Earth to date, which was back in 2008.
Reviewing my post, I found that the video from Mr. MBB333 has been set to private on his YouTube channel. I scoured the web, but didn’t find any sites where he’d mirrored the content.