What are the main acid rain events in the world?

1, 1930 smog acid rain event in the Maas Valley, Belgium

1930 65438+In early February, people in the Maas Valley in Belgium generally began to feel unwell. Some people who already have heart disease, high blood pressure or lung diseases begin to get sick slowly, and even die in just a few days. Subsequently, thousands of people in this area experienced abnormal conditions. Tears, sore throat, hoarseness, cough, shortness of breath, chest tightness, nausea, vomiting and other symptoms made everyone very anxious. Subsequently, a large number of animals were also in trouble until they died. According to statistics, 63 people died in a week, which may be small, but it is more than ten times the normal death toll in the same period, and there are not many people in Mas Valley. This is the earliest smog and acid rain pollution incident recorded in the Maas Valley of Belgium in this century. Mas Valley is located in the center of the basin and the valley zone, so the whole area is completely sunken below the surface. In addition, this area is an important industrial zone, with three oil refineries, three metal smelters, four glass smelters and three zinc smelters, as well as electric power, sulfuric acid, fertilizer plants and lime kilns. Such a complete industrial equipment is built in a narrow basin of only 24 kilometers, which will emit sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide smog with quite high concentration for a long time. Even without acid rain, such air composition is not conducive to human health. 1 930 65438+February15, the temperature in Mas Valley was abnormal. The temperature of the atmosphere should gradually decrease with the elevation, and this is the basic meaning of the so-called "it's too cold above". However, at that time, due to the special geographical location and man-made destruction, the high-level temperature was inversely proportional to the low-level temperature, so this phenomenon of temperature inversion was called inversion weather. Inversion will make the air in the atmosphere unable to convection, and then the toxic smoke discharged from the factory will not disperse and gather in the air to try to fall to the ground. In fact, this is quite a bit "omnipotent", but the form is terrible acid rain. Next, you will see another smog and acid rain event in the United States in 1948.

2. 1948 smog and acid rain incident in Donora, USA.

I don't know whether history is too uncreative or whether the intensity of human destruction of nature has never diminished. 1948, the same pollution incident occurred in the small town of Donora, USA as the acid rain incident in Mas Valley. The consequences this time are even more serious. Within five days from 10 year1October 27th to 3 1 year1October 27th, nearly half of the people in the town (7,000 people) fell ill and 20 people died. Most people over the age of 65 are in critical condition, because they suffer from heart disease and respiratory diseases, and their symptoms such as vasodilation, bleeding and edema are serious. At last 3 1, acid rain came from the sky, which made the incident even more out of control. Donola is an industrial town 30 kilometers south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, which is similar to the terrain of Mas Valley. It is located in a horseshoe-shaped river bend, and the hills on both sides sandwich the town in the valley, most of which are sulfuric acid plants, steel plants and zinc smelters, forming a valley industrial zone with the neighboring town of Weibus. For a long time, these factories have been emitting smoke into the atmosphere, and people here have become accustomed to this strange smell. Wind usually mixes pollutants into a fairly thick atmosphere, and then toxic gases are dispersed with the wind. But the upside-down phenomenon has become an accomplice this time. Toxic gases such as sulfuric acid and nitrogen dioxide can only wander over Donora all the time, because still air can't take them away. When the upper temperature is the highest, these polluted gas layers are only 300 meters away from the ground, which means that people are basically using those pale yellow dirty gases as masks. After the acid rain on June 365438+1October 3 1 fell, it was equivalent to taking a bath with poison gas. After the disaster 1 year, the living standard of people in small towns decreased 10%. After 10 years, the mortality rate of small towns is still much higher than that of other neighboring towns. Therefore, The New York Times called it "one of the most terrible pollution disasters in human history". But compared with the tragedy you will see in London next, Donora acid rain is really nothing.

3. 1952 London Haze Acid Rain Event

1952 The acid rain incident in London, the whole city was shrouded in smog, just like the end of the world in 1952. In early February, an exhibition of winning cows was being held in London, England, but 52 of the 350 cows were seriously poisoned, 14 was dying, and 1 died on the spot. Londoners haven't had time to feel sorry, they have already responded themselves. Many people find it difficult to breathe, and the number of patients with respiratory symptoms such as stinging eyes, asthma and cough has also increased significantly. In the four days from February 5, 65438 to February 8, 65438, the number of deaths in London reached 4000, with an average of 1000 deaths per day. After the toxic smoke dispersed on the 9th, when acid rain came, the pH value of the rain was as low as 1.4- 1.9, which was many times higher than that of high concentration tomato juice or lemon juice. After the acid rain stopped, the disaster did not stop. Two months later, more than 8,000 people died one after another. This is the most terrible smog and acid rain event in London's history. In order to speed up economic construction and improve the quality of urban life, the London government has been encouraging the development of different types of factories in London, including various large-scale thermal power plants, coal-fired power plants and chemical plants. The three wastes discharged by these factories directly threaten the life of Londoners. When acid rain broke out, it happened to be winter, and every household relied on burning coal to keep warm. The emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide suddenly increased sharply, and the concentration of dust particles reached 10 times as much as usual, and sulfur dioxide reached 6 times as much as usual. In addition, the inversion layer seems to be a "good friend" of acid rain forever, so London has become a veritable big boiler, and pollutants cannot be dispersed. Ferrous oxide in dust particles catalyzes sulfur dioxide SO2 into sulfur trioxide, which is best at combining sulfuric acid with water, so acid rain should pay homage to it every time. The most terrible thing about smog and acid rain in London is that it is not toxic smog that harms for a few days, but an acid rain that is solved. It continued intermittently, and more than 12000 people were killed. After that, 1956, 1957 and 1962, there were as many as 12 severe haze events. It was not until 1965 that people really resumed their work and life with peace of mind. The British government realized the seriousness of the problem and the importance of controlling air pollution, so it passed the British Clean Air Act 1956, which is a lesson from the past. If a city is affected by acid rain, which has caused a headache to a country, how to deal with the acid rain problem in the whole region? Next, you will see the problem of acid rain in the dead lake area of the United States.

4. Acid rain events in dead lakes in North America

Since the 1970s, lakes in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada have deteriorated and the water quality has become acidic. Once the PH was as low as 1.4, the PH of the lightly polluted lake was still 3.5, which was still very acidic. This situation has become unbearable for animals and plants, and a large area of lakes has stopped breathing. It can be described as a pool of stagnant water, which is really terrible. The rapid development of industry in this area is naturally at the expense of "highly developed" sulfur dioxide emissions, with an average annual output of more than 25 million tons. This level of pollution is brought by rain to the land, but it cannot be considered as the fact that human beings are short of water. On the contrary, a large-scale acid rain area of about 36,000 square kilometers appeared, and about 55% (9,400 square kilometers) of lakes were polluted and acidified. But this time, it was not caused by air retention. On the contrary, these polluted gases floated over North America for a while, ran over Canada for a while, and then came back and forth, which eventually led to the strongest acid rain in Virginia. In addition, according to the data of Adirondack Mountain Area in New York State, only 4% of the lakes in 1930 have no fish, and 50% of the lakes in 1975 have no fish, and 200 of them have become dead lakes, which shows the destructiveness of acid rain. North America was destroyed, and the situation in Canada was not good. The water area affected by acid rain reached 52,000 square kilometers, and more than 5,000 lakes were obviously acidified. The average PH value of Toronto 1979 is 3.5. There are always dead fish floating in more than 500 lakes and ponds around sudbury, Ontario, and the trees around the lake have withered. In addition, not only lakes are affected, but also forests can't resist the attack of acid rain. After all, if there is a forest to resist, acid rain will still hit the trees before landing. Because of acid rain, by 1983, 34% of the original 7.4 million hectares of forests in Germany (former Federal Republic of Germany) were infected with Fusarium wilt, and the annual death rate of trees accounted for 2 1% of the new growth rate. The original vibrant and prosperous scene is gone forever, just a "black forest" decline. At the moment, the black forest is not delicious, and all human beings eat is heartache and regret. Acid rain and smog are twin brothers and sisters. Next, you will see the influence of smog on a famous American city.

5. The smog incident in Los Angeles, USA

When dusk falls, half of Los Angeles will become a playground for the rich. When it comes to movies and amusement parks, you may immediately think of Hollywood and Disney, but you may not be able to tell their locations. They are located in the port city of Los Angeles, which is surrounded by the sea on two sides and mountains on three sides. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, John Needham and Brad Pitt are the dazzling stars we can see, but there is always darkness behind the brilliance. Since the 1940s, many strange phenomena have appeared in this busy city. First of all, as long as it is a crisp autumn day, people can see a large piece of light blue smoke floating in the air. If you think it's a movie prop, how do you explain that since 1943, a large number of pine forests on the 2000-meter-high mountain outside 100 km have died one after another? By 1955, more than 400 people over the age of 65 had died, more than three times as much as usual, and about 75% of the citizens suffered from pink eye. These are photochemical smog pollution caused by automobile exhaust and industrial exhaust emissions. It is precisely because of the prosperity of Los Angeles that its car saturation and population have increased dramatically. In the early 1940s, there were 2.5 million cars in Los Angeles, consuming 6.5438+0.6 million liters of gasoline every day. In addition, after World War II, the aircraft manufacturing and military industry in Los Angeles developed rapidly, and its industrial and commercial development was the third largest city in the United States after new york and Chicago. Such a huge title has led to huge automobile exhaust emissions and industrial fuel emissions. In addition, topographically, Los Angeles is located in a pocket-like area along the Pacific coast, and the air flows slowly in the horizontal direction. Moreover, there is a California cold current along the coast of California. In winter and summer, the cold current cools the warmer air over the Pacific Ocean, leading to the inversion situation that the near-surface air cools and the upper air warms. Pollutants have no choice but to be thrown into the arms of mankind again. Photochemical smog will not only cause human diseases, but also affect the life of livestock and crops and the durability of industrial materials. At the same time, smog will reduce atmospheric visibility and bring difficulties to land, sea and air traffic. The first problems we saw were acid rain and smog in Europe and America. Now let's go back to East Asia and look at the problem of acid rain around us.

6. 1955 Niigata smog incident in Japan

The 1955 incident here is not because the smog incident in Niigata, Japan occurred at the specific time of 1955, but because of the chronic smog pollution that lasted for nearly 20 years in the 1950s and 1970s. Shikoku, Japan is located in a port city on the coast of Ise Bay, Japan, with very convenient transportation. Coupled with the socio-economic environment at that time, the government decided to increase efforts to develop the surrounding oil resources. So 1955 After the completion of the first refinery, oil-related industries, large and small, gradually improved, and Sitiancheng suddenly became an "oil joint enterprise city". But from 196 1, people gradually felt unwell. Many people have symptoms such as headache, sore throat, eye pain and vomiting, and some respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, asthma, emphysema and lung cancer have also attacked people. Since 1962, the number of people suffering from asthma has soared. 1964 In the middle, the sky in Shikoku was overcast for three consecutive days, and people were smoked with a pungent smell. By 1967, life is getting worse and worse, and some people even choose to commit suicide for fun because they can't stand it. In fact, as early as 1958, the fishery near the sea was affected. A large number of fish died on the sea, and fishermen could still smell the disgusting smell. But at that time, in order to pursue high GDP growth, the government did not ask local oil companies to take any environmental protection measures. So it was not until the end of 1979 10 that the situation in the four countries was alleviated, and the number of asthma patients was nearly 800,000. The development of petroleum industry needs the combustion of a large number of fossil fuels, and a large amount of sulfur dioxide waste gas will be emitted during the combustion process. When its concentration in the atmosphere reaches more than 10%, it will strongly stimulate and corrode human respiratory organs, leading to tracheobronchial diseases. At that time, on April 4, the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air in the city exceeded the standard by 5 or 6 times, and the pollution layer reached 500 meters. Various harmful substances interact to produce substances such as sulfuric acid, which causes asthma. Knowing the harm that these acid rains can bring, what will happen to China? .

7. Acid rain in China.

Pinus massoniana in acid rain in chongqing nanshan scenic spot should not think that only developed countries have large sulfur dioxide emissions, while developing countries have been developing. China is a big coal-burning country, and coal accounts for 75% of the total energy consumption. 1980 The national coal consumption was only 600 million tons. By 1995, it has reached1280,000 tons, more than double that of 15. Therefore, with the increase of coal consumption, China's sulfur dioxide emissions have also been "among the best". With such a large amount of emissions, it is natural to imagine how severe the acid rain situation is. In the early 1980s, 27,000 mu of Pinus massoniana died suddenly 1 10,000 mu in chongqing nanshan Scenic Area, which was the first time that an acute injury event caused by acid rain was discovered in China. Then in the three months from 65438 to 0982, there were four acid rains in a certain area of southwest China, and the PH value of the rain was 3.6-4.6, which caused a large area of crops to suffer. But in 1980s, acid rain in China mainly occurred in Sichuan, Guizhou and Guangdong, with Chongqing, Guiyang and Liuzhou as the representatives. By the mid-1990s, acid rain had covered a vast area south of the Yangtze River and east of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, covering an area of over 2.7 million square kilometers. According to rough statistics, by the end of 1996, the direct economic loss caused by the reduction of forest volume in the southern1/kloc-0 provinces with serious acid rain pollution in China reached 4 billion yuan. Among them, the forest dead area in Sichuan accounts for 5.7%. According to the calculation of 15, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces lost about 6.3 million cubic meters of wood and the direct economic loss was 3 billion yuan. In fact, the damage to trees is a superficial phenomenon, and the soil erosion caused by forest destruction and a series of effects on production and life are the most profound. If we analyze the acid rain situation in a certain area of China alone, we will find that it is not as serious as that in London or Belgium. However, if we analyze the longitudinal historical data, it is not difficult to see that the ecological environment of China is very different from that of decades ago, with serious soil erosion and severe natural disasters. Some people in Sichuan, Anhui and other areas have also developed local public nuisance diseases like asthma in Shikoku. Although there is no large-scale pollution smog acid rain in China, the trend of acid rain in various regions can not be underestimated. Therefore, if we no longer cherish nature, the rumor that acid rain caused by volcanic ash caused skin cancer a while ago will come true.