A rational explanation for the chilling black clouds hanging over Krasnoyarsk has been offered up by an expert.
Irina Smirnova, head of the laboratory for modeling and predicting atmospheric pollution of the Main Geophysical Observatory (GGO), sought to allay doomsday fears of internet users who witnessed the “black sky” phenomenon above the Russian city, as she explained this was due to a local use of coal by power plants instead of gas.
Air in European cities is cleaner than in Siberian ones due to differences in meteorological conditions and sources of electricity, stated Smirnova.
“If we take a European and an Asian city with the same set of industrial enterprises, the meteorological conditions of dispersion, due to climatic conditions, are three times worse in an Asian city than in a European city," said the expert.
"Therefore, even if Krasnoyarsk has the same overall volume of emissions as any European city, the pollution level in may be three times higher. When coal is burned, a large amount of aerosol impurities and sulfur compounds are formed, which under certain meteorological conditions do not disperse, but hang over the city,” said Smirnova.
Experts have long been debating the problem of Krasnoyarsk, as black clouds over the Russian city occur quite frequently, particularly in winter, when temperatures drop.
Experts cite a number of factors impacting the city's plight.
Krasnoyarsk lies in a hollow, surrounded by mountains, has a “continental” climate, thus rendering dispersal of pollutants more difficult.
Some scientists cite another complicating factor - the city is sprawled along the banks of the river Yenisei, which doesn’t freeze even in the most severe frosts, exuding steam.