Large amounts of African dust pushed into Greece and Canary Islands
Featured image: Saharan dust over Crete, Greece on February 6, 2019. Credit: Skyline Webcams
Strong winds affecting northern Africa have pushed thick Saharan dust toward the Canary Islands and Greece on February 5 and 6, 2019, significantly lowering air quality in both regions.
Large amounts of dust were pushed from Morocco and Mauritania toward the Canary Islands on February 5, 2019. According to Barcelona Dust Forecast Center, PM10 has locally exceeded 600 µg/m³. This is way above WHO's recommended daily average of < 50.
Image credit: NASA Terra/MODIS. Acquired February 5, 2019
Detalles del comportamiento del polvo cuando se encuentra con las islas pic.twitter.com/N3KCa2G7R4
— AEMET_Canarias (@AEMET_Canarias) February 4, 2019
La calima retirándose anoche 5 de febrero 2019. La secuencia de imágenes va desde abajo (por la tarde) hacia arriba (por la noche). En @AEMET_Izana se observó una capa muy delgada de polvo que, sobre todo, afectó a niveles bajos. pic.twitter.com/nckkOqEFOs
— AEMET_Izaña (@AEMET_Izana) February 5, 2019
Gran impacto de la calima en los niveles de PM10 en Santa cruz de Tenerife superando los 180 ug/m3 !! (el máximo diario de la UE es de 50 ug/m3). Datos del Gobierno de Canarias en la estación de Piscina Municipal. pic.twitter.com/cX6fEbmcbl
— AEMET_Izaña (@AEMET_Izana) February 5, 2019
Capa blanquecina de polvo en suspensión mientras se levanta el sol. #Izaña #GranCanaria #calima
Saber más acerca del polvo en suspensión: https://t.co/3DlGHS5uKj pic.twitter.com/jtJnwTGf9O— AEMET_Izaña (@AEMET_Izana) February 6, 2019
Dust model run February 4, 2019.
On February 6, a large cutoff low located in the central Mediterranean Sea lifted sand from northern Libya and sent it toward Greece, especially over the island of Crete where it caused unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality index (PM2.5 up to 183.1 µg/m³ at 12:00 UTC).
Image credit: NASA Terra/MODIS. Acquired February 6, 2019
Cutoff low over the Mediterranean Sea on February 6, 2019. Credit: EUMETSAT
This is the sight Crete woke up to today:
Image credit: Skyline Webcams
I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
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