The dust produced by vast forest fires who are hitting the Canada they arrived in Italyparticularly in theWestern Alpine Archin Sardinia and in the center-north of the peninsula, causing anomalous foschie And lactiginous skies. Despite the insistence of the African anticyclone on our country these days, the phenomenon is not due to the sand of the Sahara but to dust that traveled for 7000 km Through the Atlantic Ocean transported by the currents at altitude and have reached Italy after flying over France, until they reach the ground.
The ARPA (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection) Valle d’Aosta released yesterday a press release in which the data collected on air quality in the region are reported. A first increase in PM10 (fine dust with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 thousandths of a millimeter) Already on Sunday 8 June, to become more intense yesterday morning reaching including values Between 70 and 90 micrograms per cubic meter detected in the stations of Aosta Plouves And Womans.
These are unusually high values for the Aosta Valley: just think that the current Italian legislation (established by Legislative Decree n.155 of 2010) establishes a daily limit value of 50 micrograms per cubic meter not to exceed more than 35 days in a year). However, there are temporary levels that in itself do not constitute a direct risk to health.
The fact that these powders come from fires in Canada is confirmed by 4 main elements:
- the satellite imageswhich showed the long journey of the smoke produced by the fires along the northern Atlantic;
- the atmospheric modelswhich have made it possible to reconstruct the trajectories of atmospheric particulates backwards;
Powder trajectories detected in the Aosta Valley reconstructed through the atmospheric models. Source: ARPA VDA - there presence of fine dust at high altitude (between 3000 and 5000 meters) compatible with the Canadian particulate origin;
- the chemical analysis on the composition fine dust. In fact, the harp has special tools capable of characterizing in detail the particulates. In this case, the ARPA Valle d’Aosta found that the fine powders detected have undergone chemical-physical processes before falling back to the ground, having made this that indicates how the particulates traveled for a long time before ending up in the detection stations installed in the region. This information is important, among other things, because “aged” powders could have different health effects – and possibly worse – compared to the particulate matter produced immediately by fires.
