Capital’s air quality reaches dangerous levels
The smoke caused by the fire which broke out in Varnavas on Sunday afternoon in Varnava and quickly spread throughout northeast Attica, reaching toxic levels in the atmosphere, with an adverse impact on the health of people with pulmonary issues.
The strong gusts in the area from the outset of the fire start caused the smoke to move more than 300 kilometers from its original source, as documented by the European meteorological satellite Meteosat-11 and presented by the National Observatory of Athens’ meteo.gr.
The force of the winds resulted in the dispersion of PM2.5 particles. The microparticle values reported by the Panacea National Research Infrastructure’s air quality monitoring network reached levels that are hazardous to human health, particularly from Sunday night to Monday night. The rise began gradually at 4 p.m. on Sunday, but by 3 a.m. on Monday the air quality had deteriorated significantly. Clearly, the atmosphere in Glyfada in southern Athens was suffocating, with values exceeding 200 micrograms per cubic meter. The dispersion of microparticles in the southern suburbs, kilometers away from the the fire, was via Mount Ymittos, which serves as a corridor.
“The cloud of microparticles was sliding along the backbone of Ymittos, which ends up in Glyfada and Vouliagmeni, and burst like a big shock wave, pushing the values of particles up to 200 micrograms per hour,” said Nikos Michalopoulos, professor and director of research at the National Observatory of Athens and coordinator of the Panacea research. Thus, the smoke cloud moved east and south.
Other measuring sites in eastern Attica (Vrilissia, Halandri, Vyronas and Ilioupoli) recorded microparticle concentrations of up to 70 micrograms per cubic meter. The readings peaked between 1 a.m. on Monday and 7 a.m. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set an average daily acceptable limit of 20 micrograms.
Given the situation, the Health Ministry issued health guidelines urging people to seek medical assistance in case of prolonged coughing, difficulty in breathing, tightness and/or pain in the chest, tachycardia, nausea, exhaustion or disorientation.
