PHOTOPERIOD VARIATIONS AND LIGHTING IN THE PROVINCE OF JUJUY AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HUMAN WELLBEING

LARRAN, MABEL; LÓPEZ NUÑEZ CLAUDIA; LÓPEZ NUÑEZ ALEJANDRA; BORSETTI H.M; TONELLO GRACIELA; BELEIZAN FERNANDO; ATANACIO YOLANDA; HERNANDEZ DE BORSETTI N.E

San Miguel de Tucumán

Jornada; THIRD JOINT MEETING OF THE BIOLOGY SOCIETIES OF ARGENTINA; 2015

Sociedades de Biología de la República Argentina

The province of Jujuy has a population distributed into four geographical regions: Yungas, valleys, quebrada and Puna (300 to over 4,000 meters above sea level) with a variety of ecosystems and environmental factors that, together with the seasonal variation in photoperiods, could affect the rhythmic production of melatonin, a hormone regulated by light that has not yet been studied in the province. The visual effects of lighting determine our performance, while biological and emotional effects are more important in determining our health and wellbeing. Objective: To study the interaction of environmental factors with melatonin production from differences in photoperiod according to the altitude and latitude of each region. Methodology: representative localities of the regions of the province were selected. Historical weather information from Servicio Metereológico Nacional and Servicio Metereológico Andino was collected in order to analyze climate elements and index calculation to determine the influence of environmental factors. With a light meter monthly light curves were plotted, starting measurement when the value was zero, before dawn, and ending when it was zero again. Hourly measurements were collected. The photoperiod was calculated for each day.Results and conclusions: Differences were found between measured values and calculated values. Although there is no latitudinal variation in astronomical heliophany in the province, we observed that the variations found in relative heliophany resulted from increased atmospheric moisture and cloudiness in the east of the territory, which is due to differences in effective heliophany.