London fog weather or not1/13/2024 ![]() ![]() Background Sources of pollution Ī period of unusually cold weather preceding and during the Great Smog led Londoners to burn much more coal than usual to keep themselves warm. It led to several changes in practices and regulations, including the Clean Air Act 1956. However, the Great Smog was many times worse than anything the city had ever experienced before: it is thought to be the worst air pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom, and the most significant for its effects on environmental research, government regulation, and public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health. London had suffered since the 13th century from poor air quality and diarist John Evelyn had written about "the inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London " in Fumifugium, the first book ever written about air pollution, in 1661. More recent research suggests that the total number of fatalities may have been considerably greater, with estimates of between 10,000 and 12,000 deaths. Government medical reports in the weeks following the event estimated that up to 4,000 people had died as a direct result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even penetrating indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events, called " pea-soupers". It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, then dispersed quickly when the weather changed. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants-mostly arising from the use of coal-to form a thick layer of smog over the city. The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. 4,000 killed (1952 government estimate).Interestingly, while the London fog was highly acidic, contemporary Chinese haze is basically neutral,” he added. “Again, the right chemical processes have to interplay for the deadly haze to occur in China. He said sulfur dioxide is mainly emitted by power plants in China, while nitrogen dioxide comes from power plants and vehicles, and ammonia comes from fertilizer use and vehicles. “The difference in China is that the haze starts from much smaller nanoparticles, and the sulfate formation process is only possible with ammonia to neutralize the particles,” Zhang said. The study said that similar conditions often occur in China. Our results showed that this process was facilitated by nitrogen dioxide, another co-product of coal burning, and occurred initially on natural fog.” “But how sulfur dioxide was turned into sulfuric acid was unclear. “People have known that sulfate was a big contributor to the fog, and sulfuric acid particles were formed from sulfur dioxide released by coal burning for residential use and power plants, and other means,” lead author Renyi Zhang, a scientist at Texas A&M University, said in a statement. Their work was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The incident eventually led to the Clean Air Act of 1956, restricting the burning of coal in urban areas in the United Kingdom.Ī team of scientists now believe they have solved the mystery of the exact cause and nature of the fog, through lab experiments and measuring the atmosphere in China, which is home to 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world. 9, after cold winds swept the fumes out to the North Sea. Birds flew into buildings, and robberies increased as thieves were able to make an easy getaway. Some Londoners reported being unable to see their feet, and transportation was canceled with the exception of the London Underground. 5 that year, sulphur particles mixed with fumes from burning coal and made the yellow fog smell like rotten eggs. Thousands of animals also died.ĭuring a cold snap on Dec. The Great Smog, which blanketed the British capital for five days in December 1952, is estimated by some experts to have killed more than 12,000 people and hospitalized 150,000. ![]() LONDON - The decades-old mystery of what caused a killer fog that claimed the lives of thousands of people here appears to have been solved by a team of international scientists. Watch Video: Cause of 1952 deadly London fog determined ![]()
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