The effects of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation on life on Earth differ greatly. While overexposure to UV rays is harmful, small amounts of exposure are necessary for the synthesis of Vitamin D and good health. To optimize individual exposure to solar UV, it is therefore crucial to use UV data sources representative for entire populations and realistically accounting for various influencing factors. A UV climatology for Switzerland based on satellite data has been developed to provide risk estimates at population level. An algorithm generating ground-based radiation estimate has been transformed from the visible to the UV wavelength domain by adapting both a clear-sky radiation transfer model and a cloud modification factor model using satellite imagery.

The algorithm allows the computation of global UV erythemal irradiance at a spatial resolution of 1.5 – 2 km and an hourly temporal resolution over fifteen years. A validation, conducted with measurements from three meteorological stations over ten years, showed that the expanded uncertainty for low hourly UVI values (UVI < 3) is about ± 0.3, while for high hourly UVI values (UVI > 6) it can go up to ± 1.5. In clear-sky situation, the uncertainty is in the range of 10–15%.

The climatology developed allows to visualise potential UV exposure at regional and national scale. National prevention intervention could use new strategies to better focus on populations at risk and better tailor available researches. The UV climatology allows a high versatility in adapting the data extraction to the goal of studies using it. Further tailored data extraction and analysis will be necessary to exploit this climatology in a wide range of environmental and occupational health applications. Its development was focused on Switzerland, but the techniques used can be extended globally.

太阳紫外线（UV）辐射对地球生命的影响差异很大。虽然过度暴露于紫外线是有害的，但是少量的暴露对于维生素D的合成和良好的健康是必需的。为了优化个人对太阳紫外线的照射，因此至关重要的是，使用代表整个人群的紫外线数据源，并切实考虑各种影响因素。已经开发了基于卫星数据的瑞士紫外线气候学，以提供人口水平的风险估计。通过使用卫星图像调整晴空辐射传输模型和云修正因子模型，已经将生成地面辐射估计值的算法从可见光转换为UV波长域。

该算法允许以1.5 – 2 km的空间分辨率和15年的每小时时间分辨率来计算全局UV红斑辐照度。十年来对三个气象站进行的测量验证表明，低小时UVI值（UVI <3）的扩展不确定性约为±0.3，而高小时UVI值（UVI> 6）的不确定性可以提高到±1.5。在晴空情况下，不确定度在10％到15％之间。

所开发的气候学可以可视化区域和国家范围内潜在的紫外线暴露。国家预防干预措施可以使用新的策略来更好地关注处于危险中的人群，并更好地调整可用的研究。紫外线气候学在使数据提取适应使用它的研究目标方面具有很高的通用性。为了在广泛的环境和职业健康应用中利用这种气候，必须进行进一步的量身定制的数据提取和分析。它的开发集中在瑞士，但是所使用的技术可以在全球范围内扩展。