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

• Lectures: Tue & Thu, 9:30-10:45, Ekeley M203
• Office hours: immediately after class Tue & Thu
• Syllabus to be posted here

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

Textbooks

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

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

• Introduction to Igor Pro

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 absorption database
    • Interactive TUV Model for photolysis rate calculations

• Chemical Kinetics
  • Required Reading: Chapter 9 of Jacob
  • Resources:
    • JPL Chemical Kinetics Database
    • NIST Chemical Kinetics Database
    • Leeds Master Chemical Mechanism for chemical kinetics calculations

• Atmospheric Transport
  • Required Reading: Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 of Jacob
  • Resources:
    • Animation of Transport of BC in SE Asia
    • Visit to NOAA "Science on a Sphere"

Applications

• Gas-Phase Organic + NOx Chemistry
  • Required Reading: Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 of Jacob

• 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. 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
• by Prof. Colette Heald @ Colorado State Univ.

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