Direct visibility between Finland, Estonia due to less pollution
The lockdown due to coronavirus has led to clear air and improved air quality, all over the world. Nearly a month back, people in India's Jalandhar were reported able to view the Himalayan range in Himachal Pradesh, which resulted due to cleaner air. Now, people on the coast of the Finnish capital of Helsinki can now see the land of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, across the Gulf of Finland. This has also resulted due to less pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Direct visibility between the two cities, some 80 kms away across the Gulf of Finland, has not been possible for a decade.
Researchers in Finland said that the phenomenon is likely due to less transport exhaust gases in the air as a result of reduced passenger transport on the Gulf during the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the Finnish emergency legislation which was activated to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, the country has prohibited passenger transport between Finland, Estonia and Sweden.
This has reduced departures of large ferries from Helsinki by half.
Ninety-seven scheduled weekly departures were down to 51, as some of the ferries continue carrying freight, local media reported.
Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, a researcher on air quality at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told the media that the decline in the number of oxides of nitrogen is probably the main reason for the clarity.
(With IANS inputs)
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