The eerie images that were recorded in the previous days in several areas of the country – among them in Athens – due to the transport of African dust, in a way, they were written in history.
The reason is none other than the scene created by the immeasurable amount of Saharan dust, with the phenomenon characterized as “Minerva Red” by the scientific community.
A Meteo timelapse video from the camera of the National Observatory of Athens captures the phenomenon step by step to “cover” the Attic sky and “paint” it orange.
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Check out the stunning images:
Because we have more African dust in recent years
The director of EMY, Thodoris Kolidas, brought back his relevant post from last month, in which he tried to explain why we have more dust in recent years in our area and what is the source of the dust.
Speaking to NEWS 24/7Mr. Kolidas explained that, in addition to climate change, such phenomena are largely due to bad policies of previous years.
Citing one of the reasons why such quantities of African dust are transported, Mr Kolidas stated: “Lows forming deep in Africa pick up dust and transport it further north, due to the subtropical jet stream.”
The post of Thodoris Kolidas:
Dust transport to the central Mediterranean is characterized by episodes lasting from 2 to 4 days. Central Algeria is the most common source area for suspended particles, with other possible sources being the Hoggar Massif and Tibesti mountains in northern Chad.
The world’s largest source of dust is located in the Bodily Basin in Chad, in the area between the ever-shrinking Lake Chad (today one-twentieth of its 1960 size) and the Sahara. The cavity releases 1.270 million tons of dust a year, ten times more than when measurements began in 1947.
Overall across the Sahara and the Sahel at its southern border, dust volumes have increased 4 to 6 times since the 1960s. The most affected countries are Niger, Chad, northern Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
During the spring season (March April), the Sharav cyclones moving eastward along the North African coastline transport dust into the eastern Mediterranean. A typical sandstorm that has a range of 200 kilometers carries 20 to 30 million tons of dust, sometimes up to 100 million. The dust circulating in the atmosphere worldwide reaches 2 to 3 billion tons per year.
