The paper briefly presents a methodology for mapping surface UV radiation that uses a radiative transfer model and satellite data to quantify the influencing factors. TOMS, TOVS, and GOME data are used for the total column ozone. The cloud optical thickness is estimated using METEOSAT/MVIRI images. Other influencing factors taken into account include tropospheric aerosols, snow cover, and surface elevation. The resulting products are maps of surface dose rates and daily doses, covering Europe with a spatial resolution of 0.05°. On this basis, construction of a European UV climatology has been undertaken, with the purpose of supporting impact studies on the environment and human health. The data set covers the period from 1 January 1984 to 31 August 2003. A comparison between the satellite estimates and the measurements in Ispra, Italy, is briefly presented. Finally, examples of how the climatological data set can document the geographical distribution and year-to-year variability in surface UV radiation are presented.