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Iran
Black Rain After Oil Depot Strikes
Iran’s capital Tehran was engulfed in a cloud of toxic smoke that unleashed black rainfall several miles away on Sunday, after overnight Israeli strikes on multiple fuel depots caused fires to burn for hours. The strikes constitute the most significant attack on Iran’s civilian industrial infrastructure of the war so far. Over the weekend, Iranian strikes hit energy infrastructure across the Gulf, while Israeli attacks targeted oil storage and fuel facilities inside Iran. Videos shared by citizen journalists showed massive flames over the Tehran sky overnight and smoke still billowing over the oil storage facilities. As rain poured down on the city of 10 million people on Sunday morning, authorities warned of toxic acid rain. People in Tehran were advised to stay indoors and to protect exposed food. The toxic gases and fine particulate matter from the oil explosions could irritate the eyes and airways; worsen asthma, pulmonary conditions, and heart disease; and increase the risk of cancers.
This map depicts the locations of the severe explosions following attacks by Israel on oil storage facilities in Tehran, Iran’s capital. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Anadolu Agency
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Bahrain-Iran
Desalination Plants Attacked
Water desalination plants in Iran and on the island of Bahrain have come under attack over the weekend, threatening a vital resource and widening the war’s impact on civilians. Bahrain’s interior ministry claims that an Iranian drone damaged a desalination plant, however, there has been no impact on water supplies or water network capacity. Iran has not commented on Bahrain’s allegation, but accused the U.S. of attacking a desalination plant on Qeshm Island, affecting the water supply for 30 villages. Gulf countries like Bahrain depend heavily on desalination plants to supply millions of people with drinking water. Without them, the populations of the Gulf’s large metropolises would be unsustainable in the region’s harsh desert climate. The Gulf Research Center found that groundwater and desalinization provide 90 percent of the region’s water, but groundwater supplies are deteriorating. Political analysts and diplomats have long warned about the vulnerability of the region’s desalination plants.
This map depicts water desalination plants in the Middle East. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Bloomberg
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United States
New Jersey Geese Die-Off
New Jersey health and wildlife authorities are raising the alarm on a possible resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, or bird flu) as wild birds see a mass die-off across the state. New Jersey Fish & Wildlife has received reports of 4,370 dead or dying birds over the last month, almost all of them Canada Geese, while the Department of Environmental Protection reportedly received 7,500 reports in February alone. New Jersey saw the fourth-highest number of confirmed HPAI detections in the United States from February 1 to March 3, with 23, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While most dangerous for birds, both wild and domesticated, bird flu can and has passed to wild and domesticated mammals, and, even more rarely but increasingly, human beings. It has not been found to be a critical threat to human health, but bird flu can force poultry and egg producers to have to cull their flocks, resulting in shortages leading to higher prices.
This map depicts the number of confirmed detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, or bird flu) at the state level in the U.S. from February 1 through March 3, 2026. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What body of water is home to “Null Island,” the intersection of the Equator and the Prime Meridian?
A: Gulf of Guinea
The term “Null Island” jokingly refers to a fictional place at zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude (0°N 0°E), where the prime meridian and the equator intersect. The name is often used in mapping software as a placeholder to help find and correct database entries incorrectly assigned the coordinates 0,0. The point on the Earth’s surface defined as Null Island is located in international waters in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 370 mi (600 km) off the coast of West Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea. The Gulf of Guinea is the northeastern part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. Null Island is marked by the Soul buoy (named after the musical genre), a permanently moored weather buoy.
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Q: Where in the world will you find the world’s most powerful whirlpool?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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AGS is accepting DailyGeo GeoQuestion suggestions.
Write to ags@americangeo.org with any ideas!
Please include GeoQuestions in the subject line, along with your answer and source.
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