The Great London Fog

The Great Fog that appeared in December 1952 in the city of London, was caused by the
excessive burning of fossil fuels by industries and the people added to a cold front and the
total absence of wind causing a process of thermal inversion, in which a mass of hot air was
installed on another mass of colder air, preventing the polluting gases from rising and
dispersing in the atmosphere. A dense cloud of yellow mist composed of sulfuric acid and
nitrogen dioxide was found in central London within a 32-kilometer radius.

The great fog unleashed a series of consequences on the people as, dizziness, weakness,
respiratory affections generating deficiency of oxygen in the blood as well as
bronchopneumonia and purulent bronchitis, bleeding from the nose, irritation and blindness in
the eyes and death in the worst of the cases were reported the death of 4,000 people and
months later caused 8,000 deaths being seen mainly affected the elderly and children
additionally it was observed that the fauna of the place was affected since many birds died
because of this fog.

The magnitude of this catastrophe according to the metropolitan index of IMECA air quality
was 2,000 IMECA points for PM10 and 540 for sulfur dioxide. which indicated a poor quality of
air today London has improved its air quality since according to its ICA have a score of 72
which is moderate and indicates that sensitive people should consider limitation of excessive
physical efforts and prolonged air free.

To help in the prevention of this problem the government carried out the publication in 1956
of the "Crean Air Act" which search to economically encourage the elimination of coal heaters
to electric heaters, on the other hand, "Green Deal" which seeks to encourage citizens to
implement insulation in their homes, to eliminate heaters in homes and thus reduce emissions

What were the environmental aspects and impacts that can be identified in the grat fog?

The activity of combustion of coal for the heating and for the production of the people of
London had as environmental aspect the emission of polluting particles was causal of the
following impacts:

- in atmosphere components the increase of the particles of: Cox, Nox, MP and H2So4

- In the social component the impact was the decrease of the population due to the increase of
diseases in the respiratory tract.

On the other hand in Colombia has not seen an event like the one in London, because it is
located in the tropics, therefore do not have stations and flow of air masses, also the country
has not generated such a degree of emissions for this to happen, but still has regulations that
control emissions that occur in the country as is the resolution 0909 of 2008 that tells us about
the fixed and mobile sources, which was then modified in 2010 with the resolution 1309, we
also have the decree 958 of 1995 that talks about the protection and control of air quality.