Class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since I will be traveling during a few scheduled class periods, several classes will have to be moved. I generally put those on Wednesdays, but we check all our schedules on the first class day to find the optimum replacement times.
This class is a survey of the principles of atmospheric chemistry, with a focus on the unpolluted marine atmosphere. It is designed to be accessible to students with a wide variety of backgrounds, so that any Oceanography grad student would have a suitable background to take the course and would (hopefully) find its material useful in other fields. Topics include atmospheric structure, dynamics and transport, photochemical kinetics and atmospheric reactions, aerosols (formation, processing, and removal), wet and dry deposition, acid rain, cloud chemistry, air-sea exchange, the impact of atmospheric chemistry on climate change, and stratospheric ozone depletion.
The assigned readings will be from either the literature or the class text, Finlayson-Pitts and Pitts, Atmospheric Chemistry, Wiley and Sons, 1986. [Before buying the text, though, there is a chance I may change the text for the 1997 Spring course.] The published papers are collected into a xeroxed set for the class. In order to ensure that the reading is completed prior to the class discussion, any person in the room may be randomly selected to lead a discussion of any of the reading. (Papers from the literature are generally be handled this way, but some text discussions will also be student-led.)
There will be three exams given in-class. They will primarily consist of short-answer questions and computations. They will be worth 15% each. The last will be given during finals week, but will not be a comprehensive final: it will only cover the material since the last exam. Two or more sample problems will be handed out for each day's readings and discussion. These will not be handed in and graded, but most of the exam questions will come from these problems.
In discussions with the instructor (appointments on 23 March) each student must select a topic on which to write a paper of 5 - 10 pages. The topics should either address some controversy in atmospheric chemistry, critically review a paper in the literature, evaluate a problem in which significant uncertainties exist, or address an aspect of atmospheric chemistry that is related to your own field of study. Examples of suitable topics will be given early in the semester. Considerable latitude exists for topics, so be creative and suggest something that interests you.
This paper is due in draft form on 25 April. It will be graded for both content and writing and returned to you by 4 May. A corrected, final version will then be due on the day assigned for our final exam. The idea here is that everyone will improve their first paper enough that all will get the full 40%.
This is really the heart of the course. Numerous journal references have been assigned. Some of these I will discuss and lecture on. For others, I will randomly pick a class member to discuss the paper. Anyone auditing or sitting in should expect to participate in this lottery, since watching discussions without doing the reading is not very fruitful. At each class period, any person in the room may be chosen to discuss one of that day's papers. (Having done it last time does not relieve one of jeopardy next time.) You will be graded on your level of preparation with these papers. It is not necessary that you understand everything in advance: your discussion may often include questions for me or for the class. But these questions should make it clear that you have read and seriously tried to understand the material. My guess is that this category will result in the largest grade-spread of any.
| Date | Subject | Preliminary Readings & Due Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Th 1/12 | Introduction, Atmospheric Structure & Composition | FPP 1-37, 50-52 |
| Tu 1/17 | Atmospheric Structure and Thermodynamics | {BCOW 213-224} Merrill handout |
| Th 1/19 | Atmospheric Structure and Radiation | FPP 93-108 |
| Tu 1/24 | Chemical Kinetics | FPP 209-222 {BCOW 82-89} |
| Th 1/26 | Photochemistry | FPP 59-86 |
| Tu 1/31 | Photochemistry, NOx, and Oxidants | FPP 140-156, 961-973 |
| Th 2/2 | Photochemistry, NOx, Oxidants, and OH | [Liu, et al., 1992] What is controversial here? For more comprehensive information: [Logan, et al., 1981] {BCOW 263-282} |
| Tu 2/7 | CH4, CO, and Remote Ozone Production | [Fishman et al., 1985] {BCOW 227-230, 239-242} - What's the problem with "Bomb Carbon?" ADD: Jain, GBC, 9, 153-166 (1995) on Radiocarbon |
| Th 2/9 | CH4, CO, CO2, NMHC, and trends | FPP 973-986, [IPCC Trends, 94 - CO2 and CH4 sections only] Why the '93 blip? [Wahlen, 1993] |
| Tu 2/14 | Exam - Happy Valentine's Day to you, too! | * |
| Tu 2/21 | Aerosols, Size-distributions, Nucleation, & Processing | FPP 727-741, 753-759 {PW 278-296} |
| Th 2/23 | Aerosols & Vapors - Sea Salt, Soot | FPP 775-802 {PW 303-330, 360-369} [Fitzgerald, 1991] |
| Tu 2/28 | Aerosols & Vapors - Sampling Artifacts | [Appel, et al., 1984; Hering and others, 1988] |
| Th 3/2 | Aerosols, Clouds, and Climate - Indirect Effects | FPP 759-775 {BCOW 234-235} [Charlson, et al., 1987; LaBrecque, 1990] |
| Tu 3/7 | Aerosols and Climate - Indirect Effects | [Hindman et al., 1994; Trefil, 1990] |
| Th 3/9 | Wet Deposition | FPP 699-713 [Huebert, et al., 1983] |
| Tu 3/14 | Wet Deposition & Acid Rain | [Moody and Samson, 1989] [Pszenny et al, 1982] |
| Fr 3/17 Friday 3-4 PM |
Cloud and Fog Chemistry and Droplet Deposition | [Munger et al., 1989; Vong, 1991] {PW, 296-303} |
| Tu 3/21 | Dry Deposition | [Hicks and Matt, 1988, Huebert and Robert, 1985, Kaimal and Long, 1980] |
| We 3/22^M 3-4 PM | Dry Deposition | [Slinn, 1980, Wesely, et al., 1985] Meet with BJH today to select topic for paper |
| Th 3/23 | EXAM in Class | * |
| Tu 3/28 | SPRING BREAK | * |
| Th 3/20 | SPRING BREAK | * |
| Tu 4/4 | Air/Sea Fluxes - Emissions, Nutrients, Iron | [Duce, 1986; Liss and Slater, 1974; recent Fe ref TBD] |
| We 4/5 3-4 PM |
Measurement Strategies - Air/Sea Fluxes & Reaction Rates | [Huebert, 1991; Kawa and Pearson, 1989] |
| Th 4/6 | DMS, SO2, NSS - Sulfur Chemistry | BCOW 993-999 [Andreae, et al., 1985; Bates, et al., 1990; Sievering ref TBD] |
| Th 4/13 | DMS, SO2, NSS - Sulfur Chemistry | [Bandy, et al., 1992, Huebert, et al., 1995-GRL Xmas] |
| Tu 4/25 | Direct Effects of Aerosols on Climate | [Charlson, et al., 1992; Penner - Dahlem Organics] |
| We 4/26 3-4 PM |
Greenhouse Gases and ClimateTHIS | [Refs TBD]DAY Draft Paper Due |
| Th 4/27 | Halocarbons and Polar Ozone | FPP 1011-1027 [WMO, 1991] , selected pages TBD McCormick et al, Atmos. Effects of Mt. Pinatubo Eruption |
| Tu 5/2 | Volcano Impacts on Stratospheric Ozone | [paper TBD] |
| Th 5/4 | Catch-up & Review | Class Discussion TBD First Draft of paper returned to you by today To find recent literature on related subjects, I recommend [Brune, 1991, Jacob, 1991, Kolb, 1991] |
| 5/8-12 | FINALS WEEK - Exam (not comprehensive) |
Final Version of Paper Due |
