Guadeloupe and Martinique were placed under red alert for fine particle pollution on Monday, August 10, prefectures and air quality monitoring agencies announced. The alert followed the arrival of a particularly dense Saharan sand haze over the French Caribbean islands.
Madininair, Martinique's air quality monitoring agency, said on Facebook that a haze of desert dust, denser than expected, had been crossing the territory since the start of the day. The agency said the haze was producing high concentrations of fine particles in the air, and that facing the risk of exceeding the health threshold, it was triggering the pollution alert procedure. The alert remains in place Tuesday, with improvement expected Wednesday.
PM10 levels far above threshold
In Guadeloupe, PM10 concentrations reached 110 micrograms per cubic meter in Pointe-a-Pitre on Monday, averaged between midnight and 9 a.m. local time, well above the 80 microgram alert threshold set over 24 hours. The prefecture said on social media that air quality was severely degraded because of the ongoing pollution episode, pointing to a map from monitoring agency Gwad'Air showing the entire territory in red. The alert procedure applies to the whole archipelago only for Monday, with a return to normal expected Tuesday.
Vulnerable groups urged to take precautions
During such episodes, many residents experience stinging eyes, dry throat or breathing difficulties, since fine particles penetrate deep into the respiratory system and pose the greatest threat to fragile people. Authorities are urging pregnant women, young children, older people and those with chronic illnesses in particular to limit physical exertion and road travel. Sports activities for young children are banned.
The prefecture and Martinique's regional health agency, in a joint statement with Madininair, said regulatory emergency measures to reduce emissions could be implemented by the prefect. All residents are also being asked to cut back on intense physical activity and limit car travel, including by working remotely where possible.
Every year between June and October, dust from the Sahara and the Sahel crosses the Atlantic, carried at high altitude by trade winds, degrading air quality in the Caribbean and causing spikes in fine particle pollution. The dust can be lifted up to seven kilometers in altitude before being pushed by winds across tens of thousands of kilometers, according to Caribbean air quality monitoring agencies.
