The city of Paris experiences high smog levels and encourages people to use more public transit. Image source: Shutterstock (#248736610)
Paris the second European capital, besides London, that suffers from heavy levels of smog this week. Mayor Anne Hidalgo has banned all cars with odd-numbered license plates and has made all public transport free for the day. It is not an accident that these smog alerts appear at that time of the year. In winter there is an thermal inversion with cold air closer to the ground because warm air is lighter than cold air. Emitted pollution stays at the ground rather than going up. Winter smog is caused by a mixture of cold air, still wind and increased traffic and heating. Diesel cars cause the most pollution because they emit up to 95 percent of nitrogen dioxide.
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