Impacts of the Saharan dust episode in the Eastern Mediterranean were studied

The Finnish Meteorological Institute participated intoan international impact assessment of an extraordinary intense Saharan sand and dust storm, referred to as the “Minoan Red” dust event. The episode mainly affected the Greek island of Crete, where the highest aerosol concentrations over the past 15 years were recorded, although impacts were also felt well beyond this core area andSaharan dust covered snow areas in Armenia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Russia, and Caucasus.

The researchers identified impacts on meteorological conditions, agriculture, ground and air transport, energy, society (including closing of schools and cancellation of social events), and emergency response systems. As a result, the event led to a 3-fold increase in daily emergency responses compare to previous days associated with urban emergencies and wildfires, a 3.5-fold increase in hospital visits and admissions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations and dyspnoea, a reduction of visibility causing air traffic disruptions (eleven cancellations and seven delays), and a reduction of solar energy production.

Economic impact of the dust episode was estimated to over 3.4 million euros

It was estimated that the cost of direct and indirect effects of the dust episode, considering the most affected socio-economic sectors (e.g. civil protection, aviation, health and solar energy production), was between 3.4 and 3.8 million euros for Crete.

Since such desert dust transport episodes are natural, meteorology-driven and thus to a large extent unavoidable, the researchers argue that the efficiency of actions to mitigate dust impacts depends on the accuracy of operational dust forecasting and the implementation of relevant early warning systems for social awareness.

Total of 34 researchers from 18 countries participated to the article published in Science of The Total Environment. The Saharan dust assessment was part of European Union funded COST Action inDust (CA16202).

Further information:

Saharan dust on snow: Outi Meinander, PhD, Senior research scientist, Finnish Meteorological Institute, outi.meinander@fmi.fi

Satellite observations on dust: Timo H. Virtanen, PhD, Senior research scientist, Finnish Meteorological Institute, timo.h.virtanen@fmi.fi

Dust impacts on civil aviation and solar energy: Athanasios Votsis, PhD, Senior Research Scientist, Finnish Meteorological Institute, athanasios.votsis@fmi.fi

Scientific article is open access and available in Science of The Total Environment.

Reference:

Monteiro, Alexandra, Sara Basart, Stelios Kazadzis, Athanasios Votsis, Antonis Gkikas, Sophie Vandenbussche, Aurelio Tobias, Carla Gama, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Enric Terradellas, George Notas, Nick Middleton, Jonilda Kushta, Vassilis Amiridis, Kostas Lagouvardos, Panagiotis Kosmopoulos, Vasiliki Kotroni, Maria Kanakidou, Nikos Mihalopoulos, Nikos Kalivitis, Pavla Dagsson-Waldhauserová, Hesham El-Askary, Klaus Sievers, T. Giannaros, Lucia Mona, Marcus Hirtl, Paul Skomorowski, Timo H. Virtanen, Theodoros Christoudias, Biagio Di Mauro, Serena Trippetta, Stanislav Kutuzov, Outi Meinander, Slobodan Nickovic, Multi-sectoral impact assessment of an extreme African dust episode in the Eastern Mediterranean in March 2018, Science of The Total Environment, Volume 843, 2022, 156861, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156861, 2022.