Saharan dust inundates Athens Wednesday morning

The African dust microparticles that blanketed southern Greece reached shocking concentrations in Athens of up to 700 µg/m3 on Wednesday morning when the European limit is 50 µg/m3.

The Saharan dust, called Minerva Red, started to recede as of noon, thanks to west-northwest winds.

Research by the Athens Observatory and the University of Crete shows that African dust has been arriving in Greece for at least 4,000 years. 

"Studying especially the last 20 years, what we see is that dust transport episodes are characterized by periodicity, with intense phenomena every 3-5 years. There does not seem to be any upward trend, on the contrary in recent years, after 2018, when there was an upsurge, there was a recession," said Nikos Michalopoulos, director of research at the observatory.

Saharan dust mainly arrives in spring, depending on the southerly winds. In...