Attack on Iran’s oil released as much pollution as a volcano

A new satellite analysis of the 7 March strikes on Tehran’s oil facilities estimates a sulphur dioxide release comparable to a small volcanic eruption, with a plume spanning 300,000 square kilometres—raising fears of acid rain, toxic air, and short-term health

On 7 March, flames rose from an oil storage facility hit during attacks on Iran. Smoke hung over Tehran for days, and residents reported eye and skin irritation and difficulty breathing. Black rain containing soot and hydrocarbons fell on the capital.

That was the scene on the ground. Now. data from a new generation of Chinese satellites have mapped the scale of what those fires sent into the atmosphere—enough sulphur dioxide to resemble a small volcanic eruption. with people potentially exposed as far away as China to acid rain and toxic air pollution.

The strikes. part of a wider US and Israeli campaign against Iran. targeted several oil depots and a refinery that night. The explosions sparked massive fires that lit up the sky and spewed smoke for days. The emissions were not a localized nuisance. The sulphur dioxide plume covered 300,000 square kilometres, passing over Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China.

The release itself was brief but intense. The study found that the short attack prompted a days-long spike in emissions, injecting a total of 29,800 tonnes of sulphur dioxide, calculated by Zhenping Yin at Wuhan University in China and his colleagues.

For comparison. Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano emitted about 20. 000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide per day when its ash cloud shut down air travel in Europe in 2010. The new satellite measurements suggest the Tehran event pushed the sulphur dioxide release into a similar magnitude—even though the plume only lasted for about three days.

Yin says the satellite-derived concentrations reached levels that could impair lung function. irritate the eyes and throat. and exacerbate asthma or bronchitis. especially among children and older people. And he warns that even though the major emission event lasted only one to two days. the potential impact on the regional atmosphere should not be neglected.

Sulphur dioxide is not just a gas that irritates. In the air, it reacts with compounds of hydrogen and oxygen to form sulphuric acid, driving smog and acid rain. The article points to the Great Smog of 1952 in London. when sulphuric acid and other pollution from burning coal killed an estimated 12. 000 people.

The concern is not confined to the air. Pollutants may have been rained out over water sources and agricultural land, potentially contaminating drinking water and food, Yin adds.

The health worry widens because the fires were not only spewing sulphur dioxide. Besides sulphur dioxide, the burning oil facilities emitted soot and heavy metals. Lucy Carpenter at the University of York in the UK argues that the massive quantity of sulphur dioxide suggests the plume likely carried harmful amounts of other. more dangerous pollution. She points to nitrogen oxides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, along with unburned hydrocarbons such as benzene—substances linked to cancer.

“[Sulphur dioxide] would be emitted with a whole range of other things,” Carpenter says. “That amount in one single fire has huge implications for people’s health… over thousands of kilometres.”

Carpenter also notes the persistence of the threat in the atmosphere. These fine particles can stay aloft for days, travelling with the wind. She says the study’s ability to trace the plume’s evolution over such a wide area is especially striking.

Still, there are limits to what satellites can confirm. The plume’s duration—about three days—probably isn’t enough time to cause cancer. And satellite readings measure sulphur-dioxide concentrations through the entire atmosphere, leaving the toxin concentration at ground level unclear. Even so, the pollution could potentially have triggered asthma attacks, strokes or even heart attacks in especially vulnerable people.

One especially sobering comparison sits alongside these findings. The attack on Tehran released about 20 times more sulphur dioxide than some coal-fired power plants in high-income countries emit in a year. The article adds that a coal plant in a nation that doesn’t require scrubbers on smokestacks can emit far more. underscoring how extreme the event appears in the satellite record.

The study draws on the Fengyun 3 satellite constellation. which provides atmospheric concentrations of sulphur dioxide and other major pollutants to the public within three hours. That rapid visibility, Yin says, could improve disaster response. “Satellite data are useful for pollution assessment and early warning for downstream areas.”.

In the hours and days after a strike like this, the difference between a local emergency and a regional health threat can come down to what the plume is carrying—and how quickly others learn where it’s going.

Iran oil strikes sulphur dioxide plume satellite data acid rain air pollution health impacts Fengyun 3 Zhenping Yin Lucy Carpenter acid rain risk volcanic comparison Eyjafjallajökull