A smoggy valeKashmir has been called the Switzerland of India, with its glacial landscapes and peaks

A smoggy valeKashmir has been called the Switzerland of India, with its glacial landscapes and peaks, all surrounding the basin that now holds Lake Dal and the city of Srinagar. Around 4.5 million years ago, the whole basin was filled with water, until the outlet channel eroded open on the right hand side of the photo, allowing much of it to drain onto the Gangetic plain.In the modern age, the basin traps smog instead, as the mountains set up conditions that trap the air within underneath a temperature inversion. When warm air moves over cool, for example when a cold night allows the air at the valley bottom to chill more than that above it, the vale becomes a smog bucket. Cold air also flows into the basin from the ring of mountains, trapping the haze beneath it, and the snow cover reinforces the effect by cooling the air above it, reflecting the sun’s heat back towards space. The pollution comes from charcoal heaters and car exhausts.I remember standing in the centre of Connaught Place, the nexus of Lutyens’ New Delhi, and not being able to see the inner ring buildings a hundred metres away. This pollution has nasty effects on respiratory health and is known to cause many deaths worldwide, though in countries like India the smoke from burning dried dung in badly ventilated housing for cooking rivals it in its effects.LozImage credit: NASA.http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84862&src=fb -- source link

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