A body of atmospheric dust originating from China is expected to reach Taiwan today, but would not be strong enough to be categorized as a dust storm, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
The wave of dust is not expected to have a serious impact on Taiwan, the administration’s Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management Director-General Tsai Hung-te (蔡鴻德) said, but he urged people who are sensitive to dust to take precautions.
“The wave of dust consists mostly of PM10 particles and after the wave reaches the outlying Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu archipelagos at around noon [today], the PM10 concentration in those areas will reach between 100 and 150 micrograms per cubic meter,” Tsai said.
The impact of the phenomenon would be limited, he said.
The wave is expected to reach Taiwan proper tonight, and the concentration of PM10 is expected to reach between 70 and 80 micrograms per cubic meter. Tsai said.
Air quality in central and southern Taiwan is expected to worsen noticeably in the early hours of tomorrow morning due to high levels of both PM10 and PM2.5 pollution, Tsai said.
PM10 refers to suspended particles of 10 micrometers in diameter or less and PM2.5 refers to those of 2.5 micrometers or less.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
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