London, Great Smog

Other examples of trends come from Great Britain, where the emission of industrial smoke was reduced from 1.4 million tonnes per year in 1953 to 0.1 million tonnes per year in 1972 domestic smoke emission was reduced from 1.35 million tonnes per year in 1953 to 0.58 million tonnes per year in 1972 and the number of London fogs (smogs) capable of reducing visibility at 9 AM to less than 1 km was reduced from 59 per year in 1946 to 5 per year in 1976. 

The actual pollutants or combination of pollutants responsible for the excess deaths in London have not been identified, although in all cases there were greatly increased levels of S02 and particulate matter in the presence of dense fog and very low, strong meteorological inversions. Figure 1.2 shows the concentrations of S02 and smoke, i.e., particles, during the 1952 episode (Wilkins, 1954). Clearly, the death rate tracks these two pollutants. It is this combination of smoke and fog that led to the now commonly used term, smog. ... 

See also Clean Air Act (CAA), US Pollution, Air Great Smog of London. 

The Great Smog of London in 1952 was not an isolated incident. Other such reducing-type killer smogs have occurred in Meuse Valley, Belgium (1930), Donora, Pennsylvania (1948), and again in London (1962). The death toll blamed on the air pollution in these cases was not as high. 

Great Smog of London, Pages 469-471, Yvonne R. Rodriguez SummaryPlus Full Text + Links PDF (63 K)... 

See also Acids Corrosives Great Smog of London. 

We saw in Section 3.6.1 that the acid-laden smoke particles in the London atmosphere caused great harm to human health in the past. Pollutants in the atmosphere still cause concern because of their effect on human health, although today we need to consider a wider range of potentially harmful trace substances. The photochemical smog encountered ever more widely in modern cities gives urban atmospheres that are unlike the smoky air of cities in the past. Petrol as a fuel, unlike coal, produces little smoke. 

A Air quality in London has been greatly improved by control measures, such as elimination of coal as a household fuel, introduced after a severe smog episode in 1952. 

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