Most New Yorkers stayed home or dramatically reduced their movements by closing the windows of their homes and offices
On the morning of June 7, the sky of the northeastern United States of America was covered with an orange haze and a cloud of smog covered the sun and the moon for an entire 24 hours, creating an atmosphere the likes of which the inhabitants of these regions had never experienced before.
That morning, 54-year-old New York resident Tina Glykou, leaving her home in Queens to head to work, saw an apocalyptic scene, as the sun was obscured by an orange haze and a smell that it made her think the fires burning in Quebec, Canada were just a few miles from her neighborhood. In fact the fire was more than 8 hours away from the border but the situation was suffocating and suffocating.
“It was a revealing picture. Everything was blurry and when I came out, because I had already reached the office, it smelled like there was a fire next door. I was saying it is not possible that it has come down from Canada and you think the fire is in your neighborhood. The sun could not be seen again due to the cloud and fog,” Ms. Glykou told the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, adding that there was a strange silence in the streets.
Most New Yorkers stayed home or dramatically reduced their movements by closing the windows of their homes and offices.
“He had a mysterious stillness. There were generally no people on the streets and those who did, went from home to the office and back again. You were really bothered by the atmosphere. You didn’t want to inhale the smell. It was a dull orange color, like you’ve turned on orange light bulbs. Even the way the spaces were lit had changed even if it was daytime,” he emphasizes and adds that what also impressed them that day is that the temperature dropped quite a bit. “We expected 24-25 points and in fact we had 15-18 points. The size of the sun was what the full moon is like. It was terrible. Until Carolina, the atmosphere was exactly the same,” he explains to APE-MPE.
The New York City Air Quality Index registered a historic negative record as due to the fires raging in Canada it reached above 200 level of pollution which is extremely dangerous.
As he points out to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, the associate professor at the Technical University of Chemical and Environmental Engineering of Crete, holder of the AXA chair on fires and climate change, Apostolos Voulgarakis, New York in the last two days had the worst air quality in the world. “We see such records in areas such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, China, etc. In a city like New York that we saw such a record, that is, being at the top of the planet in terms of the worst air quality is clearly related to the fires in Canada and with the change in the atmosphere in American states caused by this particular episode”, emphasizes Mr. Voulgarakis to APE-MPE, adding that on the first day the levels of air pollution were particularly dangerous for vulnerable groups, while on the second day it was at “unhealthy levels”.
Why New York was covered in orange smog
The path and dispersion of smoke and particles emitted by forest fires is unpredictable, as according to Mr. Voulgarakis it is related both to how low in the atmosphere the pollutants and suspended particles will travel and to the circulation of the winds. “An important role is played by the large amount of pollutants released by the fires, i.e. suspended particles. We have to see if they travel very low in the atmosphere i.e. in layers that are close to or touch the surface of the earth or travel in somewhat higher layers of the troposphere.
If it travels at 5km height it will affect visibility, brightness, temperature but not air quality. In this particular case, because he traveled in the lower layers, everything conspired to maximize all the effects, that is, the effects on visibility, on temperature on health, on air quality and therefore on health. It was to an extreme degree compared to other cases we have seen”, explains Mr. Voulgarakis.
According to Mr. Voulgarakis, in the event that the released pollutants are so continuous from many fires, as happened now with hundreds of fires affecting Canada, this automatically increases the chances of being transported thousands of kilometers away. “There are so many pollutants circulating in the atmosphere that the likelihood of them reaching very far increases. In this particular case, the circulation of the wind favored their reaching residential areas”, he notes to APE-MPE.
However, what has caused concern among scientists is that extreme fires (mega fires) in Canada have occurred very early this summer.
As the climatebook page points out, more than 3.8 million hectares of land have already burned across Canada from the fires, an area 12 times greater than the decade average for this time of year.
“There is a clear trend towards a rapid increase in wildfires due to higher temperatures and longer droughts. The trend is towards more fires and indeed this is attributed to climate change with sufficient certainty. There are other areas where this correlation is still being researched. For the region where this huge phenomenon is occurring, we have strong indications through the analyzes that are being made that in general North America is heading towards more fires and more pollution from fires and climate change is responsible for this” Mr. Voulgarakis.
Similar situations in Europe cannot be ruled out
According to Mr. Voulgarakis, given that the distances between the countries of Europe are shorter, the borders are closer, it is possible that, if similar conditions prevail, European citizens will be faced with a similar scenario, despite the fact that the fires will not reach the size of those of Canada. “The phenomena may not reach this degree but since the distances are shorter, the borders are closer and populations exist in a denser tissue around the European Continent even if the fires do not reach the enormous size that occur in Canada they can affect communities of people possibly and in the same way if corresponding conditions prevail.
13 years ago, something similar happened in Moscow, where some fires in neighboring areas created similar conditions in the city of Moscow. It’s not like these things can’t happen in Europe. And then it was something that happened after a long period of heatwaves and droughts in the wider region of Western Siberia”, says Mr. Voulgarakis characteristically and adds that it is not excluded that Europe will have more intense fire-meteorological conditions in the future due to climate change.
At the same time, he notes that with the Mediterranean being one of the clear epicenters of climate change, according to research carried out by his team, it is predicted that in the future both the Mediterranean region and more northern regions of Europe will have a higher risk of fires in the future.
How long do pollutants stay in the atmosphere?
As Mr. Voulgarakis explains, since the particles remain in the troposphere, they usually have a lifetime of days to a few weeks. “That depends on whether they encounter conditions that remove them from the atmosphere faster. As it moves away from the source and the fires begin to subside we are talking about a more manageable situation where the pollutants reach concentrations that are not as high as on days of very intense burning and in areas where the air masses coming from the fires converge and they create this concentration”, he emphasizes.
Source :Skai
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
