Smog

Smog

Smog refers to an atmospheric condition of atmospheric instability, poor visibility, and large concentrations of gaseous and particulate air pollutants. The word "smog" is an amalgam of the words "smoke" and "fog." There are two types of smog: reducing smog characterized by sulfur dioxide and particulates, and photochemical smog characterized by ozone and other oxidants.

Reducing smog refers to air pollution episodes characterized by high concentrations of sulfur dioxide and smoke (or particulate aerosols). Reducing smog is also sometimes called London-type smog, because of famous incidents that occurred in that city during the 1950s.

Reducing smogs first became common when industrialization and the associated burning of coal caused severe air pollution by sulfur dioxide and soot in European cities. This air pollution problem first became intense in the nineteenth century, when it was first observed to damage human health, buildings, and vegetation.

There have been a number of incidents of substantial increases in human illness and mortality caused by reducing smog, especially among higher-risk people with chronic respiratory or heart diseases. These toxic pollution events usually occurred during prolonged episodes of calm atmospheric conditions, which prevented the dispersion of emitted gases and particulates. These circumstances resulted in the accumulation of large atmospheric concentrations of sulfur dioxide and particulates, sometimes accompanied by a natural fog , which became blackened by soot. The term smog was originally coined as a label for these coincident occurrences of atmospheric pollution by sulfur dioxide and particulates.

Coal smoke, in particular, has been recognized as a pollution problem in England and elsewhere in Europe for centuries, since at least 1500. Dirty, pollution-laden fogs occurred especially often in London, where they were called "peasoupers." The first convincing linkage of a substantial increase in human mortality and an event of air pollution was in Glasgow in 1909, when about 1,000 deaths were attributed to noxious smog during an episode of atmospheric stagnation. A North American example occurred in 1948 in Donora, Pennsylvania, an industrial town located in a valley near Pittsburgh. In that case, a persistent fog and stagnant air during a four-day period coupled with large emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulates from heavy industries to cause severe air pollution. A large increase in the rate of human mortality

was associated with this smog; 20 deaths were caused in a population of only 14,100. An additional 43% of the population was made ill in Donora, 10% severely so.

The most famous episode of reducing smog was the socalled "killer smog" that afflicted London in the early winter of 1952. In this case, an extensive atmospheric stability was accompanied by a natural, white fog. In London, these conditions transformed into a noxious "black fog" with almost zero visibility, as the concentrations of sulfur dioxide and particulates progressively built up. The most important sources of emissions of these pollutants were the use of coal for the generation of electricity , for other industrial purposes, and to heat homes because of the cold temperatures. In total, this smog caused 18 days of greater-than-usual mortality, and 3,900 deaths were attributed to the deadly episode, mostly of elderly or very young persons, and those with pre-existing respiratory or coronary diseases.

Smogs like the above were common in industrialized cities of Europe and North America , and they were mostly caused by the uncontrolled burning of coal. More recently, the implementation of clean-air policies in many countries has resulted in large improvements of air quality in cities, so that severe reducing smogs no longer occur there. Once the severe effects of reducing smogs on people, buildings, vegetation, and other resources and values became recognized, mitigative actions were developed and implemented.

However, there are still substantial problems with reducing smogs in rapidly industrializing regions of eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, China, India, and elsewhere. In these places, the social priority is to achieve rapid economic growth, even if environmental quality is compromised. As a result, control of the emissions of pollutants is not very stringent, and reducing smogs are still a common problem.

To a large degree, oxidizing or Los Angeles-type smogs have supplanted reducing smog in importance in most industrialized countries. Oxidizing smogs are common in sunny places where there are large emissions of nitric oxide and hydrocarbons to the atmosphere, and where the atmospheric conditions are frequently stable. Oxidizing smogs form when those emitted (or primary) pollutants are transformed through photochemical reactions into secondary pollutants, the most important of which are the strong oxidant gases, ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate. These secondary gases are the major components of oxidizing smog that are harmful to people and vegetation.

Typically, the concentrations of these various chemicals vary predictably during the day, depending on their rates of emission, the intensity of sunlight, and atmospheric stability. In the vicinity of Los Angeles, for example, ozone concentrations are largest in the early-to-mid afternoon, after which these gases are diluted by fresh air blowing inland from the Pacific Ocean. These winds blow the polluted smog further inland, where pine forests are affected on the windward slopes of nearby mountains. The light-driven photochemical reactions also cease at night. This sort of daily diurnal cycle is typical of places that experience oxidizing smog.

Humans are sensitive to ozone, which causes irritation and damage to membranes of the respiratory system and eyes, and induces asthma. People vary greatly in their sensitivity to ozone, but hypersensitive individuals can suffer considerable discomfort from exposure to oxidizing smog.

See also Atmospheric circulation; Atmospheric composition and structure; Atmospheric inversion layers; Biosphere; Ultraviolet rays and radiation