Class Description
This course is taught in a journal club
format in which we will discuss a series of papers related to tropospheric
chemistry. Each week one paper will be the topic of a focused class
discussion. The objectives of the class are the learn to critically
evaluate the scientific literature, understand what we know about a certain
problem, how we know about it, as well as what don't we know.
Outline of topics.
The papers we will read will be grouped
under three major topics:
1) Tropospheric
budgets of ozone, CO and NOx
-
How much ozone in the troposphere is produced
photochemically and how much is transported from the stratosphere?
-
What are the sources of CO in the troposphere?
-
How do we test photochemical theory and models?
-
What are the remaining uncertainties?
Papers:
Logan, J.A., et al., "Tropospheric Chemistry: A global perspective", Journal
of Geophysical Research, 86, 7210-7254, 1981.
Liu, S.C., et al., "Ozone production in the rural troposphere and the implications
for regional and global ozone distributions", Journal of Geophysical Research,
92, 4191-4207, 1987.
Jacob, D.J., et al., "Origin of ozone and NOx in the tropical troposphere:
A photochemical analysis of aircraft osbervations over the South Atlantic
basin", Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 24.235-24,250, 1996.
2) Is the global
oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere changing?
-
What factors control the oxidizing capacity
of the troposphere?
-
Have OH levels changed in the past 100 years?
10 years? What were the levels of OH during the last ice age? Will they
change in the future?
-
Do we really know and how can we tell?
-
What is the controversy all about?
Papers:
Thompson, A.M., "The oxidizing capacity of the Earth's atmosphere: Probable
past and future changes", Science, 256, 1157-1165, 1992.
Prinn et al., "Atmospheric trends and lifetimes of CH3CCl3 and global OH
concentrations", Science, 269, 187-192, 1995.
Montzka, et al., "New observational constraints for atmospheric hydroxyl
on global and hemispheric scales", Science, 288, 500-503, 2000.
Prinn, et al., "Evidence for substantial variations of atmospheric hydroxyl
radicals in the past two decades", Science, 292, 1882, 2001.
3) Climate/chemistry
interactions
Together with ATM S 591 "Special topics:
Climate change 2001", Prof. Sarachik.
-
How will anthropogenic emissions change over
the next 100 years?
-
How will that affect the composition of the
atmosphere?
-
How will climate change impact atmospheric
chemistry?
-
What are the feedbacks between atmospheric
chemistry and climate change
Paper:
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "Climate change 2001: The scientific
basis", Chapter 4, Atmospheric Chemistry and Greenhouse Gases, Cambridge
University Press, 2001.
Prerequisites: Some basic knowledge
of atmospheric chemistry is expected (ATM S/CHEM 458 or ATM S 558). Supplementary
readings will be provided as required (see optional textbook below).
Textbook (optional): D.J. Jacob,
"Introduction to atmospheric chemistry" (Chapter 11), Princeton University
Press, 1999.
Grading Policy: Credit/No credit.
|