France: tide and Paris pollution

bwilson4web · Mar 22, 2015

So I was thinking about the recent eclipse and associated tide peak:

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The exceptionally high spring tide, swollen by a "supermoon" effect linked to the solar eclipse on Friday, was predicted to cut off the island from the mainland with a wall of water as high as a four-storey building. The surge ends a month of high tides, which has drawn many tourists to France’s North Atlantic Coast. While the phenomenon is rare, it takes place not once a century but roughly every 18 years.

In the end, the tidal surge fell a few centimetres short of predictions, according to Nicolas Pouvreau, a tide specialist at SHOM, the French national oceanography organisation. A tiny sliver of causeway no more than a few metres wide resisted the surge of water pushed by the moon's huge gravitational pull on the sea. Scientists said low air pressure may have lessened the phenomenon.

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Source: France - In pictures: 'Tide of the century' brings thousands to Mont Saint-Michel - France 24

Should have been about 6 mm higher from sea level rise. It is always good to be reminded that weather and orbital effects impose noise on top of the base sea level change. But Paris showed up for another reason:

. . .

According to Plume Labs (which monitors 60 cities worldwide), an air quality index number above 150 is considered “critical”, while anything above 100 is considered “harmful”. Paris hit 125 on the app’s index on Wednesday.

The smog, which continues to envelop the city as well as much of north-western France, has dissipated enough to knock Paris off the top polluter’s spot since its peak on Wednesday afternoon.

But the pollution is still in the air. In the short term, nothing short of a few days of rain (which would wash many of the fine particles out of the air though no rain is forecast) or a drastic reduction in the number of cars on the roads will make the problem disappear.

City Hall, which told FRANCE 24 on Friday that it recognized the gravity of the situation, has put some short-term measures into place. On Saturday March 21, public transport will be free in the greater Paris region in an effort to reduce pollution from cars, while parking in the city will be free.

In the long term, the city is looking to progressively ban the most polluting cars and lorries from the streets while working to extend and upgrade the public transport system in a bid to wean the public off private vehicles.
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Source: France - Paris briefly tops world charts for air pollution - France 24

Fine particles from diesel, better than coal heating in the past.

Bob Wilson

France: tide and Paris pollution

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France: tide and Paris pollution

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