The sun is the source of life on the planet. Its rays provide the necessary light and warmth. At the same time, the ultraviolet radiation of the Sun is detrimental to all living things. To find a compromise between the beneficial and harmful properties of the sun, meteorologists calculate the index of ultraviolet radiation, which characterizes the degree of its danger.
What UV radiation from the Sun is
Ultraviolet radiation from the Sun has a wide range and is subdivided into three regions, two of which reach the Earth.
-
UV-A. Long-wavelength radiation range
315-400 nmThe rays pass almost freely through all atmospheric "barriers" and reach the Earth.
-
UV-B. Medium wavelength range
280-315 nmThe rays are 90% absorbed by the ozone layer, carbon dioxide and water vapor.
-
UV-C. Shortwave range radiation
100-280 nmThe most dangerous area. They are completely absorbed by stratospheric ozone before reaching the Earth.
The more ozone, clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere, the less the harmful effects of the Sun. However, these saving factors have a high natural variability. The annual maximum of stratospheric ozone is in the spring, and the minimum is in the fall. Cloudiness is one of the most variable characteristics of weather. The carbon dioxide content also changes all the time.
At what values of the UV index is there a danger
The UV Index gives an estimate of the amount of UV radiation from the Sun on the Earth's surface. UV Index values range from safe 0 to extreme 11+.
- 0 - 2 Low
- 3 - 5 Moderate
- 6 - 7 High
- 8 - 10 Very high
- 11+ Extreme
At mid-latitudes, the UV index approaches unsafe values (6–7) only at the maximum height of the Sun above the horizon (occurs in late June - early July). At the equator, the UV index reaches 9 ... 11+ points throughout the year.
Why the sun is useful
In small doses, UV radiation from the Sun is essential. The sun's rays synthesize melanin, serotonin, vitamin D necessary for our health, and prevent rickets.
Melanin creates a kind of protective barrier for skin cells from the harmful effects of the sun. Because of it, our skin darkens and becomes more elastic.
The hormone of happiness serotonin affects our well-being: it improves mood and increases overall vitality.
Vitamin D strengthens the immune system, stabilizes blood pressure and has antirachitis functions.
Why the sun is dangerous
Taking sun baths, it is important to understand that the line between beneficial and harmful Sun is very thin. Excessive tanning always borders on a burn. Ultraviolet radiation damages DNA in skin cells.
The body's defense system cannot cope with such an aggressive effect. It lowers immunity, damages the retina of the eyes, causes aging of the skin, and can lead to cancer.
Ultraviolet light destroys the DNA chain
How the sun affects people
Susceptibility to UV radiation depends on skin type. People of the European race are most sensitive to the Sun - for them protection is required already at index 3, and 6 is considered dangerous.
At the same time, for Indonesians and African Americans, this threshold is 6 and 8, respectively.
Who is most affected by the Sun
People with light
skin tone
People with many moles
Mid-latitude residents on holiday in the south
Winter lovers
fishing
Alpine skiers and climbers
People with a family history of skin cancer
In what weather is the sun more dangerous
It is a common misconception that the Sun is dangerous only in hot and clear weather. You can get burnt even in cool cloudy weather.
Cloudiness, no matter how dense it may be, does not at all reduce the amount of ultraviolet radiation to zero. In mid-latitudes, cloudiness significantly reduces the risk of sunburn, which cannot be said about traditional places. beach holiday... For example, in the tropics, if in sunny weather you can get sunburned in 30 minutes, in cloudy weather - in a couple of hours.
How to protect yourself from the sun
To protect against harmful rays, observe simple rules:
Stay less in the Sun at midday hours
Wear light-colored clothing, including wide-brimmed hats
Use protective creams
Wear sunglasses
You are more in the shade on the beach
Which sunscreen to choose
Sunscreen varies in sun protection and is labeled from 2 to 50+. The numbers indicate the proportion of solar radiation that overcomes the protection of the cream and reaches the skin.
For example, when applying a cream labeled 15, only 1/15 (or 7%) of the UV rays will penetrate the protective film. In the case of 50 cream - only 1/50, or 2%, affect the skin.
Sunscreen creates a reflective layer on the body. At the same time, it is important to understand that no cream is capable of reflecting 100% of ultraviolet radiation.
For everyday use, when the time spent in the sun does not exceed half an hour, a cream with protection 15 is quite suitable. For sunbathing on the beach, it is better to take 30 or more. However, for light-skinned people, it is recommended to use a cream labeled 50+.
How to apply sunscreen
The cream should be applied evenly to all exposed skin, including the face, ears and neck. If you plan to sunbathe long enough, then the cream should be applied twice: 30 minutes before going out and, additionally, before going to the beach.
Specify the required amount for application in the instructions of the cream.
How to apply sunscreen when swimming
Sunscreen should be applied every time you bathe. Water washes away the protective film and, reflecting the sun's rays, increases the dose of ultraviolet radiation received. Thus, when bathing, the risk of sunburn increases. However, due to the cooling effect, you may not feel the burn.
Excessive sweating and towel drying is also a reason to re-protect your skin.
It should be remembered that on the beach, even under an umbrella, the shade does not provide adequate protection. Sand, water and even grass reflect up to 20% of UV rays, increasing their effect on the skin.
How to protect your eyes
Sunlight bouncing off water, snow or sand can cause painful retinal burns. Use UV-filtered sunglasses to protect your eyes.
Danger to skiers and climbers
In the mountains, the atmospheric "filter" is thinner. For every 100 meters of altitude, the UV index increases by 5%.
Snow reflects up to 85% of UV rays. In addition, up to 80% of the ultraviolet reflected by the snow cover is again reflected by the clouds.
Thus, the Sun is most dangerous in the mountains. Protecting your face, lower chin and ears is essential even in cloudy weather.
How to deal with sunburn if you are burned
Sponge your body with a damp sponge to dampen the burn
Apply an anti-burn cream to the burned areas.
If the temperature rises, consult a doctor, you may be advised to take an antipyretic
If the burn is severe (the skin is very swollen and blistering), seek medical attention
Before talking about Verkhniy Uslon, I will just say a few words about how we got there. We arrived in Kazan on June 10 at about noon, accommodated at the "base" - in rented apartment on Pavlyukhin street. Specifically for tourist purposes, this place was, perhaps, not the most convenient, but another factor played its role here, which did not concern me. And there were no particular problems with transport accessibility. Right next to us, on Esperanto Street, there are bus stops three key routes at once, a five-minute walk from the house - Sukonnaya Sloboda metro station. The quality of the road to Kazan (more precisely, to the border with Tatarstan) was extremely disgusting, so upon arrival it took several hours to recover. As a result, it was decided to postpone the energy-consuming trip to Baumanka and the Kremlin until the next day, and to use today's one for the easiest and most enjoyable activity - to go to Verkhniy Uslon. The next flight there was supposed to go from River port at 16 o'clock, and the remaining time we used to walk along the adjacent street. Esperanto part of Peterburgskaya street. But about her some other time.
We got to the River Port by bus number 1. The Kazan bus generally left the most pleasant memories: the cars are red, clearly visible, very clean and comfortable, stops on some routes are announced in three languages at once - Russian, Tatar and English. For the first route, the "River Port" stop is the final one, and the audience here by the end of the trip is selected accordingly.
The fact is that the Kazan River Port is an extremely atypical phenomenon for today's Volga cities. The only line of hydrofoils on the Volga at the moment operates here. Not even so: there are similar lines in other cities, for example, if I am not mistaken, in Nizhny Novgorod, but there these ships serve tourist routes... Here, the line is live, transport, and local residents use it. The Kazan agglomeration stretches up and down the Volga for several tens of kilometers, and on both banks of the Volga, and the nearest automobile bridge on the M-7 highway is located more than twenty kilometers upstream of Kazan. In these conditions, the local passenger high-speed fleet is really the solution to the problem. Directly opposite Kazan there are two suburban suburbs - Verkhniy Uslon and Pechishchi. From seven o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening every two hours a hydrofoil boat departs there - it is used by both summer residents and residents of these villages, who thus get to their places of work in Kazan. There are also purely suburban satellite villages - Rudnik and Morkvashi, a small motor ship of the regular line to Sviyazhsk calls in there twice every day (we will use it again). There is also a long-distance high-speed line that connects Kazan with Nizhny Uslon, Kzyl-Bayrak, Kamsky Ustye and Bolgar. In winter, the lines do not stop operating, and the "Rockets" and "Voskhod" are replaced by hovercraft (there are fewer tourists, and for local residents of these Vehicle quite enough).
The river station in Kazan, which lost its main function after the shutdown of the regular Moscow-Astrakhan line, is currently being converted into a hotel. But next to it there are suburban ticket offices, where you can just buy a ticket to the SPK (hydrofoil) to Verkhniy Uslon. We went to look for berth number 8 in front of the large station building, where the cruise ship "St. Petersburg" was already moored (I once went on it from St. Petersburg to Kizhi). Time was running out, we did not find the desired berth there, as a result I did not have time to photograph the ship. On the other hand, both our berth and our Voskhod-74 were found behind the checkpoint and anti-terrorist control. Up to Verkhniy Uslon - 13 kilometers by water, the SPK, also winding between the numerous islands, flies there in 15 minutes. In Uslon, there is not even a pier - a stern wooden Soviet landing stage, in the stuffy depths of which a colorful, moderately sober cashier sits at the checkout, who does not speak, but purrs like a sleepy cat.
Our "Voskhod-74" leaves for the neighboring Pechishchi, and from there - back to Kazan 
In Verkhniy Uslon, I was basically interested in two things - the local church over the Volga and the views of Kazan. But from the very beginning I didn't want to go there for some reason, and next to the landing stage I found extraordinary beauty and the void beach, where I just wandered for an hour knee-deep in water along the river bank. 
Verkhniy Uslon is an extraordinary place. With a population of over 4 thousand people, it is the regional center of the Republic of Tatarstan, and the closest to the capital - from Kazan in a straight line it is separated by only 8 kilometers. But the Volga here is not just a dividing strip - rather, it is a whole border between the two worlds. On the other side of the river is a bustling million-plus city with a thousand-year history, where wide streets hum, subway trains sweep, where crowds of tourists run, who in just a month will be replaced by spectators and athletes from all over the world. And here everything is much simpler. Silence, silence again, calm water in an unusually wide river space, calm wind, and streets on a cliff, cascading down to the river. The city is really far from here, at least 35 kilometers by road. Volga in this place does sharp turn Kazan surrounds Verkhniy Uslon from three sides, and in due time this place will inevitably become a part of the city. It is already planned to build a suspended cable car across the Volga (like Borskaya), which will make Uslon one of the districts of Kazan. But this is a project, but for now the village is living its own life. Over the Volga and Kazan. 
Half an hour before the arrival of the return ship, I nevertheless decided to climb the cape. The ascent looks scary, but in fact it turned out to be surprisingly convenient and not very difficult. Climbing the rural streets, I could not really appreciate how high I climbed and how far I am from the point from where the local Nikolo-Ilyinskaya church will be visible against the background of Kazan. 
When I got to the right place, I just stood rooted to the spot for several minutes - it is very high and very beautiful 
This picture - a cliff, a church, a river and a city - can be looked at endlessly. That is why the views of Uslon and Kazan beyond it, no matter what day I got here, would in any case become a prelude to the city itself. And if you arm yourself with a telephoto lens, you can see Kazan in detail. In an amicable way, it would not hurt to build one large panorama, but I do not know how to do this, so I will show several photographs of individual structures and small urban sectors, moving in a circle, from north to south.
First remarkable place- Temple of All Religions, located in the Kazan region of Old Arakchino. Its construction began in 1994 by the efforts of the public figure Ildar Khanov, and the last finishing touches are being completed now, after the death of the project initiator a few months ago. At first I was planning to go to Old Arakchino, but a conscious attempt was interrupted by a logistical failure, and then I managed to examine the temple in detail from the boat to Sviyazhsk and decided not to go here on purpose. 
New city water intake (operating), erected when filling the bowl of the Kuibyshev reservoir (1957) 
To the right of it is the Old Water Intake, which served, among other things, the Kazan State Powder Factory. The water intake was erected at the end of the 19th century and operated just before the creation of the reservoir, since it was not designed to work at a new water level. Now it is located on an island and is in an abandoned state. To the right, a little further, you can see the buildings of the Zilantov Dormition Monastery (founded in 1552). I eventually got there, so a more detailed story will be tied to a specific post. 
Now - a view of the western part of the Kazan Kremlin. The leftmost of the notable buildings is the Taynitskaya tower, to the right is greenish Presidential palace, the palace Vvedenskaya church, the Syuyumbike tower, then - the complex of buildings of the Cannon yard. The impressive size of the Annunciation Cathedral stands out, a little to the right in front of it is the Western Tower of the Kremlin Wall, and already in front of it is the circus (1967), which I would simply demolish. To the right of it, the buildings stand in three rows: in the foreground, covered with trees, the Central Stadium is visible, behind it is the Kul-Sharif Mosque, and even further away are historical buildings museum complex... All this, of course, will also be given sufficient attention in the corresponding post. 
This is already Eastern The Kremlin. The Transfiguration Tower can be seen against the background of the large beige building of the Public Places, and to the right of the tower there is a complex of buildings of the former Transfiguration Monastery of the Savior. Even more to the right in the foreground is the corner South-West Tower, and behind it is the whitewashed Spasskaya, the Kremlin gate. Moving on, you can select the exit down to Bulak, the building National Museum(to the right of the Spasskaya Tower), right below it is the new-built complex "Pyramid". From here he is not as striking as from the Kremlin. To the right of it, right next to the Pyramid, is the bell tower of the St. John the Baptist Monastery, behind it is the Gostiny Dvor, and even more to the right is the barely noticeable green roof and domes of the monastery Church of the Vvedenskaya. 
So many things are mixed in the next two photos that it is difficult to single out something remarkable here. This is the area of the city center, where the Bulak canal and the pedestrian Bauman street run almost parallel to the bank. The first photo is clearly visible Peter and Paul Cathedral, and here you can see its true scale (it is not easy to see them in the narrow courtyard of the cathedral, and in fact it simply dominates the city!) 
In the second photo, with a strong desire, just below and to the left of the skyscraper, you can see the bell tower of the Epiphany Cathedral - the main dominant of Bauman Street, except for the wretched box of the Tatarstan hotel. She did not get into the frame, and it's not a pity. 
River port area. Center - building River station, the motor ship "Saint Petersburg" is moored right in front of it. To the left are the berths of the local fleet, to the right are the berths of the largest cargo port on the Volga, Kazan, and in the foreground there is a breakwater, a waste of the lake spaces of the Kuibyshev reservoir. 
The motor ship "Fyodor Chaliapin" enters the port from the side of the Lower Volga - where else can it work if not in Kazan? 
Finally, there are a few more views of the Upper Uslon, taken first from the opening of the street above the Nikolo-Ilyinsky Church, and then just on the way down the serpentines of local streets. 
House over the River 
And the road to the River 
Local wood carvings can hardly be called particularly lush, but one trend can be traced here - this is the emphasis on one wide carved belt above the windows. 
We returned to Kazan no longer on the "Voskhod", but on the slow "Moscow-186", returning from Sviyazhsk. 
With this prelude the end came. In the next post - already about the center of Kazan, about the Kremlin and what is located around it.
_____________
Village Verkhniy Uslon located in the western part Tatarstan, on the right bank of the Volga. This is the closest regional center of the republic to Kazan. Verkhniy Uslon and Kazan share 6 kilometers of the surface of the Kuibyshev reservoir. Before the flooding of the reservoir, the village was big Island, from which only a few islets remain.
History
Upper Uslon was founded at the end of the 16th century (the dates are called 1575 and 1594). Before that, there was a dense forest here. According to one version, the name Uslon comes from the word "donkeys" - large woodpiles of harvested wood. Initially, the settlement was assigned to the Sviyazhsky Trinity-Sergius Monastery and was called the New Zaymishche.
Being in close proximity to Kazan, Verkhniy Uslon was relatively large settlement... Its inhabitants were mainly engaged in river fishing: they caught fish, worked for river vessels, rented ships. At the same time, Verkhniy Uslon was a resting place for the rich and intellectuals of Kazan. It was the center of the volost in the Kazan district. In 1931 the village became a regional center.
sights
Verkhniy Uslon - quiet place, in sharp contrast to the noisy Kazan, which can be seen from the high banks of the river. Picturesque islets good fishing attracts vacationers here. The architectural heritage of Verkhniy Uslon is represented by the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in 1831.
