Instructor: Professor Richard Gammon
211 Bagley
Hall, 543-1609
gammon@u.washington.edu
TA:TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Class Meetings:1:30-2:20PM, Room 220,
Chem Library Bldg., MWF.
Lab to be arranged.
Text:Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change, Eds: Brasseur et.al.
Course Description:
This course treats the earth's atmosphere as a chemical system which has evolved under strong (micro)biological control and is now significantly perturbed by human activity. After a review of necessary chemical fundamentals, an introduction to radiative transfer and the structure/ general circulation of the atmosphere, we will examine the natural and perturbed photochemistry of the stratosphere and troposphere, putting the current environmental issues ('stratospheric ozone loss', 'greenhouse warming', 'acid rain', 'smog',) in the context of natural variability and the global biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and the halogens. We will briefly consider policy implications, including proposed 'geo-engineering' solutions to global climate perturbations. Lectures will be supplemented with a lab involving the analysis of atmospheric chemical data, There will be a short paper and a few homework problem sets. (Prerequisites: CHEM 140 and either ATM S 358 or CHEM 352 or CHEM 456, or permission of the instructor.)