London Smog - a photo on Flickriver

London Smog

            The above poor-quality image was actually taken in 2004, as I was arriving on an early-morning flight into Heathrow. As we turned onto finals, I was disgusted to see the layer of smog and took this image, looking east over City Airport in the foreground, the Dartford Crossing mid-right and the Thames estuary beyond. It was not a bad day in terms of pollution!

Air pollution in London passed levels in Beijing this week (end of January 2017), with popular wood-burning stoves blamed for exacerbating the problem.

On Monday, 23 January 2017, Mayor Sadiq Khan issued the highest air pollution alert in London for the first time, and said on Tuesday that the capital’s ‘filthy air’ is now a ‘health crisis.’

Readings at 3 p.m. on Monday showed that air at locations in the capital were worse than in notoriously smoggy Beijing, hitting a peak 197 micrograms per cubic metre for particulate matter on the Air Quality Index. Pollution in the Chinese city only reached 190, which is still deemed ‘unhealthy.’

Although nitrogen dioxide levels in London rose higher than China in 2014, it is believed to be the first time particulate readings have exceeded those in the Far East.

Experts at King’s College London said the recent spell of unhealthy pollution was the worst since April 2011 in the capital and was being caused by cold, calm and settled conditions combined with ‘traffic pollution and air pollution from wood burning.’

Temperatures have fallen below zero overnight over the last few days, meaning householders are burning more fuel to keep warm. “This was the largest contribution from wood burning measured during the winter so far,” said a spokesman for King’s College.

Over the past few days, many parts of the capital have recorded double the legal limits of emissions.  Some schools banned children from playing outdoors, and Public Health England warned people not to exercise outside.

The Mayor said the situation was becoming so toxic to children that hundreds of schools will now be audited to see whether gates and play areas can be moved away from  busy roads.

‘No idling’ zones are likely to be implemented to prevent drivers leaving their engines running while waiting for children on the school run, while the most polluting vehicles may be banned entirely from driving up to entrances.

Schools will also be encouraged to plant hedges and bushes around their sites to provide barriers to block out fumes and children will be encouraged to walk and cycle to cut down on lifts.

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / London (show map)

Taken on: June 8, 2004

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2004 « less

Sets appears in: • London 1983-2008

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Camera: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 500, f/13.0, 1/320 sec, 22.2mm, ISO 50 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon DIGITAL IXUS 500
Lens:	7.4-22.2 mm
Aperture:	f/13.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	22.2mm
ISO:	50
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.7 (Macintosh)
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