Flights were grounded and trains cancelled. For five days, the Great Smog paralyzed London and crippled all transportation, except for the London Underground train system.īecause of poor visibility, boat traffic on the River Thames came to a halt. The smog was so dense that residents in some sections of the city were unable to see their feet as they walked. The noxious, 30-mile-wide air mass, teeming with acrid sulfur particles, reeked like rotten eggs-and it was getting worse every day. The temperature inversion prevented London’s sulfurous coal smoke from rising, and with nary a breeze to be found, there was no wind to disperse the soot-laden smog. London Fog Becomes London Smogįog, combined with smoke to produce smog, was nothing new in London, but this particular “pea souper” quickly thickened into a poisonous stew unlike anything the city had ever experienced.Ī high-pressure weather system had stalled over southern England and caused a temperature inversion, in which a layer of warm air high above the surface trapped the stagnant, cold air at ground level. But within a day, it became impossible to ignore the unfolding crisis. Nonetheless, Londoners went about their business with typical British reserve, ignoring the foul air as much as possible. Smoky, diesel-fueled buses had recently replaced the city’s electric tram system, adding to the toxic brew. Within a few hours, however, the fog began to turn a sickly shade of yellowish brown as it mixed with thousands of tons of soot pumped into the air by London’s factory smokestacks, chimneys and automobiles. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge and other city landmarks. A wintry cold snap had gripped the British capital for weeks, and as Londoners awoke, coal fireplaces were stoked in homes and businesses across the city to take the chill from the early morning air.Īs the day progressed, a veil of fog-not unusual in a city famous for its cool, misty weather-began to enshroud Big Ben, St. Interestingly, while the London fog was highly acidic, contemporary Chinese haze is basically neutral,” he added.Clear skies dawned over London on December 5, 1952. “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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