This photo was taken in the Chamonix valley, in Mont Blanc.
The air is loaded with dust of sand rising from the Sahara.
Saturday 6 February 2021, Vallee de Chamonix, Haute Savoie.
Photograph by Jeanne Accorsini / Sipa Press -
JEANNE ACCORSINI / SIPA
The dust of sand from the Sahara which flew over part of Europe, in particular the south of France where the sky was tinged with yellow this Saturday caused a peak in air pollution, according to the European service of Copernicus atmosphere monitoring.
"These dust clouds brought high levels of PM10 particle concentrations [particles with a diameter of 10 microns or less]," commented a scientist at Copernicus, the European Union program.
"We have seen the values of air quality drop significantly in the affected regions," he added, mentioning in particular Barcelona and Marseille.
The data on the Copernicus site thus clearly show peaks in PM10 concentration around 50 micrograms / m3 in Marseille or Lyon, beyond 60 in Barcelona.
"Large amounts of dust"
The largest volume of this Sahara sand dust blown by northward winds, a phenomenon that usually happens later in the year, was concentrated in the south of France on Saturday.
The sky turned red or yellow, and large amounts of dust settled on the ground, "strikingly on snow-covered surfaces in the Alps and the Pyrenees," noted Copernicus.
The dust plume, which rose up to 5 km into the sky, deposited several micrograms of particles per square meter over much of southern Europe between February 4 and 8, i.e. an amount "several hundred times greater" than the average, the statement said.
This dust from sandstorms in Algeria can also "worsen respiratory problems in humans, have a significant impact on road and air transport and reduce the capacity of solar panels", noted the EU program.
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