Impact on local environment limited due to 2,000-km distance from Nishinoshima

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Volcanic dust from an eruption on the Japanese island of Nishinoshima was responsible for a sudden turn for the worse in air quality on Taiwan’s sparsely populated east coast Thursday evening (Aug. 6), according to weather experts.

The counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung are known for their fresh air and natural beauty, but late on Thursday the eastern sky turned gray and the air quality went from excellent to average, CNA reported. On the Facebook page WeatherRisk, Central Weather Bureau Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said the change was not the result of simple environmental pollution but eruptions at the Nishinoshima volcano 2,000 km away.    [FULL  STORY]