An “exceptional” episode of Sahara dust degrades air quality in Western Europe

An amount “exceptional” dust from the Sahara has been rising over Western Europe since Saturday, a phenomenon whose frequency has been increasing in recent years, with harmful consequences on air quality, the European Copernicus Observatory warned on Monday April 8.

This episode, the third in two weeks, of “large-scale transport of Saharan dust across Europe” has lasted since April 6 and has notably led to “high concentrations of PM10” (particles with a diameter less than 10 micrometers) “in the Iberian Peninsula as well as in certain regions of France and Germany”sometimes exceeding the European daily normal, according to the Copernicus Air Quality Monitoring Service (CAMS).

Concentrations that will continue to increase

“Daily maximum values ​​from CAMS forecasts for PM10 showed significant concentrations at surface level, exceeding the EU 24-hour average exposure threshold of 50 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) in some of the affected regions”, Copernicus notes.

These concentrations will continue to increase in the coming days thanks to atmospheric circulations which prolong this transport, warns CAMS. The dust plume has already crossed most of the Iberian Peninsula to reach southeastern France and Germany, as far as Scandinavia, Copernicus notes. “This latest episode of Saharan dust is the third of its kind in the past two weeks and is linked to weather conditions that have led to warmer weather across Western Europe in recent days,” underlines Mark Parrington, a scientific manager at CAMS.