Air Pollution: London air pollution at record high

Wednesday 6 June 2012

London air pollution at record high

Thursday 15 March 2012 16.36 GMT, air pollution in London hit record levels on Thursday due to a combination of traffic fumes, relatively still weather and an influx of dirty air from the north of England and northern France.
Pollution levels in London are even higher than last Easter, when the government was forced to issue a smog alert.
Adults and children with lung problems, adults with heart problems and all older people should not take any "strenuous physical activity" while pollution is at the recorded levels. The general population is advised to reduce exercise too.
Since December 2008, air quality stations in London have been monitoring smaller particles called PM2.5s, which are able to enter the bloodstream more easily and cause more respiratory damage than larger particles, such as PM10s.
Poor air quality has been linked to nearly one in five deaths a year in London.
The capital's poor air quality, caused largely by traffic, has seen the UK facing £300m in fines for breaching EU targets.

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Ships pour out large quantities of pollutants into the air, principally in the form of sulphur and nitrogen oxides.

The emissions from ships engaged in international trade in the seas surrounding Europe - the Baltic, the North Sea, the north-eastern part of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea - were estimated to have been 2.3 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide and 3.3 million tonnes of nitrogen oxides a year in 2000.

In contrast to the progress in reducing emissions from land-based sources, shipping emissions of sulphur and nitrogen oxides are expected to continue increasing by as much as 40 per cent by 2020. As a result, by 2020 the emissions from international shipping around Europe is expected to equal or even surpass the total from all land-based sources in the 27 EU member states combined.

Source: http://www.airclim.org/policy/sub6_2.php

Air pollution in coal mines is mainly due to the fugitive emission of particulate matter and gases including methane (CH4), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx). The use of explosives releases carbon monoxide (CO), which poses a health risk for mine workers. Dust and coal particles stirred up during the mining process, as well as the soot released during coal transport, can cause severe and potentially deadly respiratory problems. The mining operations like drilling, blasting, movement of the heavy earth moving machinery on haul roads, collection, transportation and handling of coal, screening, sizing and segregation units are the major sources of emissions and air pollution. Under-ground mine fire is also a major source of air pollution in some of the coal fields. High levels of suspended particulate matter increase respiratory diseases such as chronic bronchitis and asthma cases while gaseous emissions contribute towards global warming besides causing health hazards to the exposed population. Methane emission from coal mining depends on the mining methods, depth of coal mining, coal quality and entrapped gas content in coal seams. Source:http://knol.google.com/k/coal-mining-and-pollution#

Burning of fuels like- coal, petroleum and gasoline emits very harmful chemicals in the air like- sulphour dioxide, carbon monoxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and other harmful gases. The use of fossil fuels is largely spread, whether it is in home, industries, or automobiles. 90% of air pollution is due to fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is the major cause for global warming. Burning of fuels causes chain of pollution. From air pollution, it leads to water pollution. Nitrogen oxide and sulphour dioxide is responsible for causing acid rain. Acid rain then again leads to water pollution. When water is polluted, it affects the life of aquatic animals and plants. Air pollution is very hazardous to human life as it invites number of diseases and illness, some of them are- respiratory problems, causing redness of eyes and irritation, throat infections, chest problems, cough and many more. Small children are majorly affected by the air pollution, some of the common symptoms, which are seen in them, are- bronchitis and asthma. Source: http://letsbefamous.com/16/how-burning-of-fossil-fuels-pollutes-the-air/

One on the major complaints made by factory reformers concerned the state of the buildings that they children were forced to work in. Dr. Ward, who visited textile factories in Manchester in 1819 wrote: "I have had frequent opportunities of seeing people coming out from the factories and occasionally attending as patients. Last summer I visited three cotton factories with Dr. Clough of Preston and Mr. Barker of Manchester and we could not remain ten minutes in the factory without gasping for breath. How it is possible for those who are doomed to remain there twelve or fifteen hours to endure it? If we take into account the heated temperature of the air, and the contamination of the air, it is a matter of astonishment to my mind, how the work people can bear the confinement for so great a length of time." Read more... Source: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpollution.htm

In regulating aircraft and airports, several compelling interests compete: safety, international commerce, and environmental quality. Of these, safety issues receive perhaps most of the attention, garnering large headlines in the wake of airplane accidents. But the issue of the effect of airports on the environment and human health has heated up in recent years as public interest and citizen groups contest airport expansion on environmental and health grounds, and the airline and airport industries attempt to meet increasingly stringent regulations in these areas. Airports are known to be major sources of noise, water, and air pollution. They pump carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) into the atmosphere, as well as dump toxic chemicals—used to de-ice airplanes during winter storms—into waterways. But determining the extent of airplanes' contribution to local, national, and international levels of pollution is difficult—cars and airplanes entering and leaving airports produce roughly equivalent quantities of ozone precursors. Auxiliary power units (APUs), little jet engines in the planes' tails that power appliances while the planes are at the gate, and ground support vehicles also produce quantities of pollutants. And competing local and national political forces make airport pollution hard to regulate; much of the air pollution is local, but automobile and airplane emissions are regulated both nationally and internationally. The growth of air traffic further frustrates mitigation of environmental problems. Air traffic is expected to double nationally by the year 2017 and internationally by 2010, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). At least 32 of the 50 busiest U.S. airports have plans to expand operations, according to a survey conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), published in the environmental group's October 1996 report Flying Off Course: Environmental Impacts of America's Airports. According to the FAA, 60 of the 100 biggest airports want to at least build or extend runways. Source: http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action;jsessionid=24872960250565AD83769411C675A4A9?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%

Engine related air pollution: Vehicles which burn fossil fuels just aren't 100% efficient at that task. Of the fuel that goes into the engine a portion of it comes out unburned. Another part of it is heated by the conditions in the engine and its component molecules are cracked and reformed and a portion of these emerge in the exhaust. There are also other fuel componenets (additive packages, sulfur, detergents) that are either not burnable or only partially consumed and discharges. Finally there is the air that is consumed in the engine. The oxygen is largely combined with carbon to produce carbon dioxide, th nitrogen is combined with oxygen under the engines high heat and pressure to form various nitrogen oxides (lumped together as NOx) Fuel and fuelling related pollution: During fuellig and as the vehicle stands part of the fuel evaporates and is emitted to the ir. This emission contains voltile organic compounds ranging from methane and butane to cyclic compounds like benzene and othe aromatics Other air pollution As a vehicle travels it stirs p road dust which is a particulate air pllutant. In addition the tyres are slowly wearing away shedding latex and artificial rubber as particulate. This is a potential allergen. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_vehicles_cause_air_pollution#ixzz1d1eHXMcn Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_vehicles_cause_air_pollution