During a boisterous battle for command of the Iraqi urban center of Mosul last week , Islamic state fightersset fire to a gigantic S flora . Days subsequently , a plume of S dioxide remain to spread over surrounding areas , darkening skies and prepare the air toxic to breathe .
This is n’t the first time the Al - Mishraq sulphur mine and processing adroitness has catch fire : As NASA ’s Earth Observatorypoints out , a similar disaster occurred more than a tenner ago , in June 2003 . That time , the fervidness take to task for a month , let go of a total of 600 kiloton of sulfur dioxide and becoming thelargest non - volcanic sulfur plumeever measured by artificial satellite .
Sulfur dioxide — the colorless , noxious gas that mould when sulphur is combusted — is not something you want to be around . At scummy levels of exposure , it causes eye and peel irritation and touch off respiratory problem . Even short - term exposure to high concentrations of the stuff can be spirit menace . Children may be especially vulnerableto its toxic effects , because they breath more atmosphere for their soundbox weight than adults do .
According to the Wall Street Journal , the blaze at the atomic number 16 plant was in the process of being extinguished over the weekend . But the toxic plume from the incident continues to spread across northern and central Iraq , recently attaining a high altitude that could allow it to be transported far and wide by stiff atmospheric breaking wind .
While bad news for the region as a whole , looseness of the feather could extend some relief to residents of Mosul . raise S dioxide levels have already been implicated intwo deaths , and have induce up to a thousand more to accrue nauseous . Over the long term , high denseness of sulfur dioxide can make acrid rainwater , strip nutrients out of stain and contaminate local water supplies .
[ NASA Earth Observatory , Wall Street Journal ]
AtmospherePollution
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