Central London hazes of the 1990s and 2010s

NO_x

NO_x gases are usually produced from the reaction among nitrogen and oxygen during combustion of fuels, such as hydrocarbons, in air; especially at high temperatures, such as occur in car engines. In areas of high motor vehicle traffic, such as in large cities, the nitrogen oxides emitted can be a significant source of air pollution. Small amounts of NO_x gases are also produced naturally by lightning. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulates (PM10 and PM2.5) are another major road related haze issue. Road transport is the biggest source of both of these.

History

The start

A mild photogenic haze had hung over the City of Westminster, Holburn, Vauxhall, Camden Town, Whitechapel, Mile End, Southwark, Bermondsey and the City of London during hot and still summer days since the mid 1970s.

The event

Central London hazes of the 1990s and 2010s was a unpleasant, but minor air pollution incident in the county of central, London' part of the Lea Valley, Croydon, Richmond-upon-Thames, Hounslow LB, Hackney Hillingdon LB, Kensington and Chelsea LB, Havering LB, Croydon, Deptford, riverside Greenwich LB, Basildon and Purfleet and the East End. It was photogenic haze (a mild form of smog) that occurred on a few days during the 1990s and early 2010s due to some perticly hot and still summer weather, which allowed London's drifting car fumes, diesel particulates, factory fumes, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and localised ground ozone clouds to mix in to a mildly toxic ground level 'haze' cloud to spread over the city. There were only a few asthma deaths, mostly in the late 1990s. 

The Thames was hazy from Richmond to Purfleet on many days in the 1990s and early 2010s, with Chelsea to Greenwich being the worst.

The continuing crisis

The London Docklands' air quality was devastated in the in 2016 and 2017 by a semi-regular choking morning smog. Still damp morning or hot sunny days make it hang over the location for several hours on end. A mild form of it spread to Deptford, the City of Westminster, Holborn, Greenwich, Newham and the City of London on a few days.

The cure

Several emission reduction laws were passed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Bicycle sharing and the London Congestion Charge also helped to tackle the smogs.

Also see

1. Photogenic smog
2. Photochemical smog
3. The Great London Smog of 1952
4. Birmingham and Sandwell Borough hazes of the 1970s and 2000s
5. Cobham, Woking, Weybridge, Guildford and Borough of Guildford hazes of the 1980s
6. Slough-Windsor-Datchet-Heathrow-Southall hazes of the 1980s
7. "London's Burning" (the political epithet, not the UK TV show)

Sources

1. UK tabloid press in the late 1980s, 1990s and early 2010s.
2. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/17/air-pollution-kills-more-people-in-the-uk-than-in-sweden-us-and-mexico
3. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/air-pollution-death-rate-up-in-half-of-london-boroughs-8924098.html
4. http://www.coldwarhistoryque.com./airchoke.
5. https://books.google.at/books?id=kdfx5_sC1G4C&lpg=PA755&pg=PA755#v=onepage&q&f=false
6. https://www.blueair.com/gb/campaign/london?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Generic%20%7C%20Generic%20%7C%20Health%20%7C%20GEO%20%7C%20London%20%7C%20BMM&utm_term=london%20air%20pollution&utm_content=London
7. http://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/Default.aspx
8. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/01/24/air-pollution-london-passes-levels-beijingand-wood-burners-making/
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOx
10. https://books.google.at/books?id=1zykqE-UN2QC&lpg=PA446&ots=D416NFxjvg&pg=PA445#v=onepage&q&f=false
11. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378382015301429
12. https://books.google.at/books?id=kdfx5_sC1G4C&lpg=PA755&pg=PA755#v=onepage&q&f=false
13. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/diesel-fumes-biggest-health-catastrophe-since-black-death-as-london-exceeds-yearly-air-pollution-a6803876.html
14. https://london.greenparty.org.uk/news/2014/02/26/air-pollution-threatens-the-health-of-all-londoners-–-not-just-the-royal-family/
15. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/diesel-fumes-biggest-health-catastrophe-since-black-death-as-london-exceeds-yearly-air-pollution-a6803876.html
16. http://mygreenairlogg.blogspot.com/2008/01/smokyskys.html