Major sources of dust include the Gobi and Sahara deserts, with North Africa already accounting for 55 percent of global emissions.
If this latter figure increases in the years to come, that could well spell trouble for Europe.
Yet the continent is no stranger to sand and dust storms. In September 2023, parts of the UK woke up to hazy skies and orange dust covering their cars, and over the Easter weekend this year, another 2,000-mile Sahara dust cloud hit the continent, branded by the EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) as particularly “intense”.
At the time, Switzerland’s airCHeck system flagged high levels of pollution: 180,000 tonnes of dust were recorded by meteorologists, twice as much as in recent years.
“The last few years have been really high in terms of African dust storms affecting western Europe, particularly Spain, Portugal, southern France and Italy,” said Claire Ryder, an associate professor in meteorology from the University of Reading.
The impacts of such weather events on our health are obvious: dust and sand storms have been linked to a wide range of issues, from conjunctivitis and breathing problems to damage to the lungs, heart and immune system.
Of particular concern are PM10 particles.
“These are very very fine, very mobile when dry, and easy to inhale into the lungs. Here they can damage tissues – not least as PM10s are often comprised of small (sometimes microscopically sharp) particles of quartz,” said Prof Thomas.
However, he added, dust incursions from the Saraha over Europe and the UK are still “relatively rare events, so PM10s aren’t that common in our atmosphere.”
Although Europeans needn’t worry too much about the health impacts of such storms, those in northern Africa should be alert to the complications that can arise from repeated exposure to sand and dust.
In particular, there is a strong association between meningitis outbreaks and these storms, experts say.
The highest concentration of the disease is found in sub-Saharan Africa, an area known as the “African Meningitis Belt”.
Meningitis is among the most feared diseases in Africa because of its rapid onset and high death rate; survivors are often left with brain damage or deafness.
