AtmChem-5151

This is the new web home page for the graduate course CHEM-5151 / ATOC-5151: Atmospheric Chemistry, when taught by Prof. Jose-Luis Jimenez. Prof. Jimenez will offer this course in Spring 2013.

• A shortcut to this page is http://tinyurl.com/AtmChem

General Information

• Syllabus for Spring 2013
• Course Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/Sched-5151
• Pre-course questionnaire for Spring 2013
• Office Hours:
  • Please let us know in advance (at least 1.5 hrs before the start of the office hrs period) if you are coming. We may be elsewhere if we don't know of anyone coming
  • Jose (Ekeley M329, 303-492-3557): Mondays 4:00-5:30 pm and Wednesdays 9:30-11 am
    • Exceptions: Wed 1/23 4:30-6 pm.
  • Jordan (Ekeley M132): Mondays 9:30-11 am and Wednesdays 12:15-1:45 pm
  • Doodle Poll for selecting office hours

Igor Software

• We will use the Igor software package as the common language for calculations and programs in the course. We strongly recommend donwloading a demo version of Igor and going through the Getting Started section of the manual and the Video tutorials before the class starts.
  • A License Key will be provided via email to the class list
• We will use these Igor Programming Conventions to facilitate communication and improve clarity of programs]

Textbooks

• Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry by Daniel Jacob, 1999. (see errata)
• Optional: Chemistry of the Upper and Lower Atmosphere: Theory, Experiments, and Applications by Barbara Finlayson-Pitts and James Pitts

Homeworks

• Homeworks and instructions will be posted at http://tinyurl.com/hw-5151

Lectures, Reading, and Homeworks

These lectures are updated every year that the course is offered, so you should not print them ahead of time as they will likely change for the present year. Relevant printouts will be distributed at the start of every lecture.

Introduction

• Introduction to the Course
• Review of Chemistry
  • Required reading: sections of General Chemistry Wikibook or This alternative resource or equivalent resources, if you don't have background or are not sure if you remember those sections: Atomic Structure, Compounds & Bonding, Chemical Reactions, Aqueous Solutions, Phases of Matter, Chemical Equilibria, Chemical Kinetics, and Thermodynamics. (NOT "Chemistry of the Various Elements")
  • Required reading: Chapter 9 of Jacob
  • Required simulation: PHET Gases
  • Suggested reading: Kinetic Theory of Gases; More kinetic theory

• Introduction to Igor Pro
  • Required reading: Getting Started in Igor
  • Suggested viewing: Video Tutorials

Fundamentals

• Measures of Atmospheric Composition & Atmospheric Pressure
  • Required reading: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Jacob

• Simple models
  • Required reading: Chapter 3 of Jacob

• Spectroscopy and Photochemistry
  • Reading: Finlayson-Pitts TBD
  • Resources: Max Planck UV-Vis database & TUV Model

• Chemical Kinetics
  • Required Reading: Chapter 9 of Jacob
  • Resources: JPL Evaluation, NIST Database, Leeds MCM

• Atmospheric Transport
  • Required Reading: Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 of Jacob
  • Resources: NASA aerosol simulation, Animation of Transport of BC in SE Asia, SEAC4RS CO Movies
    • Visit to NOAA "Science on a Sphere"

Applications

• Geochemical Cycles and the Carbon Cycle
  • Required Reading: Chapter 6 of Jacob

• Gas-Phase Organic + NOx Chemistry
  • Required Reading: Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 of Jacob
  • Suggested Reading; A. Haagen-Smit, Chemistry and Physiology of Los Angeles Smog, 1952

• Atmospheric Effects of Oil and Gas Production (invited lecturer: Dr. Jessica Gilman from NOAA)
  • Suggested Reading: DOE Shale Gas Primer
  • Suggested Reading: Petron et al., Hydrocarbon emissions characterization in the Colorado Front Range: A pilot study, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 2012.

• Aerosols
  • Required Reading: Chapter 8 of Jacob

• The Greenhouse Effect
  • Required Reading: Chapter 7 of Jacob

• Stratospheric Chemistry
  • Required Reading: Chapter 10 of Jacob

• Acid Deposition
  • Required Reading: Chapter 13 of Jacob

Resources

• Mixed-Layer model for approximate boundary layer calculations
• How an O3 Detector Works (intro video)

Reference Materials

Atmospheric Chemistry Courses at Other Universities

• by Prof. Colette Heald @ Colorado State Univ.
• by Prof. Sergey Nidkorodov, UC Irvine
• by Prof. Maggie Tolbert @ CU-Boulder (Spring 2011)
• by Prof. Daniel Jacob @ Harvard
• by Prof. Wayne @ Oxford
• by Prof. Russ Dickerson, Univ. of Maryland
• by Prof. Peter Briblecombe @ Univ. East Anglia, UK

Other References

• WHO guidelines on Air Pollution
• List of scientists active in Atmospheric Chemistry and/or Aerosols
• The Ozone Hole Tour from Cambridge Univ.
• AtmoChem.com website