Less pollution restores direct visibility between Finland, Estonia

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, if at a high enough ground, due to less pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic, news agency Xinhua reported quoting a Finnish language according to newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on Friday.

Direct visibility between the two cities, some 80 kilometers away across the Gulf of Finland, has not been possible for decades.

Researchers in Finland were quoted by the newspaper as saying 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 emergency legislation which was activated to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, Finland has prohibited passenger transport between Finland and Estonia, Finland and Sweden.

This has reduced departures of large ferries from Helsinki by half. Ninety-seven scheduled weekly departures are down to 51, as some of the ferries continue carrying freight, the newspaper reported.

Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, a researcher on air quality at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, told the newspaper that the decline in the amount of oxides of nitrogen is probably the main reason for the clarity. "They cause this smog," Jalkanen explained.