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Atmospheric Chemistry

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Lectures in Meteorology

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Abstract

Since the industrial revolution, the anthropogenic emissions of various trace species changed the composition of the atmosphere appreciably. This chapter presents the basics of atmospheric chemistry of the polluted and unpolluted atmosphere including some basic modeling concepts. The sources, transformation in the gas phase and aqueous phase, gas-to-particle conversion, aerosol physics and chemistry, transport, and removal of atmospheric trace gases as well as their relation to atmospheric physics and biogeochemical cycles are discussed and the relations of air chemistry to thermodynamics, radiation and cloud physics are elucidated.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Radio-carbon dating bases on this principle.

  2. 2.

    It is common practice in air chemistry to not write the units down in equilibrium constants.

  3. 3.

    Svante August Arrhenius, Swedish physicist, chemist, one of the founders of physical chemistry, 1859–1927.

  4. 4.

    Sydney Chapman, British geophysicist and mathematician, 1888–1970.

  5. 5.

    Research suggests that photolysis of vibrationally excited oxygen can provide an extra source of ozone.

  6. 6.

    William Henry, British physicist and chemist, 1774–1836.

  7. 7.

    Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff, Dutch physical chemist and first winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1901), 1852–1911.

  8. 8.

    This relationship is the reason why shells of mussels or water snails are more structured in tropical than Arctic waters. It also explains why there is less CO 2 in the ocean during warm climate periods than ice ages.

  9. 9.

    A rule of thumb (necessary, but not sufficient condition) is that the number of components must equal the number of species minus the number of independent reactions.

  10. 10.

    Note that after the unification of the German states, air chemistry changed from a London-type smog to Los Angles type smog in East Germany when the traffic amount increased, filters were installed, plants were shut down, and the usage of sulfur-rich coal was reduced.

  11. 11.

    Some authors make the cut at 1 μm.

  12. 12.

    A spectrum consisting of particles of same size is called mono-dispersed.

  13. 13.

    Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist, 1798–1854.

  14. 14.

    Poly-disperse means particles have different sizes.

  15. 15.

    In the time from 1930 to 2000, human population tripled.

  16. 16.

    Material, concepts, ideas and problems of the following books and articles inspired this chapter. These sources are recommended for further reading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences College of Natural Science and Mathematics Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Nicole Mölders

  2. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Gerhard Kramm

Authors
  1. Nicole Mölders
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  2. Gerhard Kramm
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Mölders, N., Kramm, G. (2014). Atmospheric Chemistry. In: Lectures in Meteorology. Springer Atmospheric Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02144-7_5

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