Course Syllabus

Class Meeting Times: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00-10:20 am . The course will be online this quarter.

Course Description: Graduate course providing an introduction to the physical and chemical processes determining the composition of the atmosphere and its implications for climate, ecosystems, and human welfare. We will look at the role of atmospheric chemistry behind several important global environmental problems: Stratospheric ozone depletion, tropospheric ozone and photochemical smog, oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, acid rain, mercury biogeochemical cycling, global warming.

Instructor: Lyatt Jaeglé (jaegle@uw.edu)

Office hours: After class or e-mail me to set up a time.

Prerequisites: ATM S 501 or permission of instructor.

Grading policy: Homework, 50%; Project paper and presentation, 40%; Class participation, 10%.

Textbooks:

• Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry, by D.J. Jacob, Princeton University Press, 1999. The lectures will largely follow this textbook. Each week the students will be required to read material of direct relevance to the class. Textbook + Errata available online: http://acmg.seas.harvard.edu/people/faculty/djj/book/index.html (Links to an external site.)

• Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: from Air pollution to Climate change, by J.H. Seinfeld and S.N. Pandis, Wiley, 2016 (3rd edition). This book is available online via the UW libraries: https://uwashington.on.worldcat.org/oclc/929985467 (Links to an external site.)

Topics covered:

1) Introduction and Fundamentals. Photochemistry; Theory of gas-phase reaction rates; Multiphase chemistry; Analysis of reaction mechanisms; Timescales; Box models.

2) Stratospheric chemistry. Stratospheric ozone and the Chapman mechanism; Catalytic loss cycles (HOx, NOy and halogen chemistry); Polar and mid-latitude ozone depletion; Role of aerosol chemistry in the stratosphere.  

3) Tropospheric Chemistry. Oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere; Tropospheric ozone; Tropospheric NOx and hydrocarbons; Air pollution and ozone smog; Tropospheric Sulfur and tropospheric aerosols.

4) Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate. Global warming and atmospheric chemistry: direct and indirect effects. Chemistry-climate feedbacks.

Other useful textbooks:

“Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Change”, G.P. Brasseur, J.J. Orlando, and G.S. Tyndall (eds.), Oxford University Press, 1999.

“Chemistry of the Lower and Upper Atmosphere” Finlayson-Pitts and Pitts, Academic Press, 1999.

“Chemistry of the Natural Atmosphere” P. Warneck, Academic Press, 1999.

“Atmospheric Change” T.E. Graedel & P.J. Crutzen, Freeman, 1992.

“Chemistry of Atmospheres: An Introduction to the Chemistry of the Atmospheres of Earth, the Planets, and their Satellites” R.P. Wayne, Oxford University Press, 2000.

Final Project:

Students will write a paper and give a 10-minute presentation during the last week of class. A list of possible topics is included below, or students can pick a topic of their own choosing. The paper should be at least 5 pages long (but no more than 10 pages) using ~1.5 line spacing and include at least 10 references in the peer-reviewed literature, as well as figures to illustrate your points. To find relevant papers, a search on the Web of Science is an excellent starting point.

Presentations for Final Projects: Monday March 15 (1:30-3pm) and Tuesday March 16 (10-11:30 am).

Monday March 15 (1:30-3pm):

• Anna: Glacial-interglacial variations of methane
• Nathaniel: Air pollution in mega-cities
• Aodhan: Air pollution in Mexico City
• Mu-Ting: Intercontinental air pollution transport
• Julia: Air pollution and health effects
• Rohan: Impacts of covid-19 lockdowns on air pollution
• Miles: Photochemical hazes on exoplanets

Tuesday March 16 (10-11:30am)

• Claire: Fires-related topic (ozone, long-range transport, or fuel composition)
• Samantha: Lightning NOx production and impacts on tropospheric ozone
• Gabrielle: Stratospheric ozone formation in the early Earth
• Travis: Stratospheric aerosol geoengineering and its effect on stratospheric ozone
• Je-Yun: Effects of tropospheric aerosol geoengineering on tropospheric chemistry
• Pedro: Effects of aerosols on convection
• Molly: Polar clouds and aerosols

Examples of potential topics.

• The effects of global warming on the recovery of the stratospheric ozone
• Air pollution in mega-cities
• Air pollution and health
• Impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on air pollution
• Intercontinental transport of pollutants
• Composition of polar stratospheric clouds
• Biomass burning, and its effect on tropospheric ozone levels in tropical regions
• Biogenic emissions of VOCs
• Oxidation of biogenic VOCs
• Anthropogenic sources of VOCs
• Halogen chemistry in the marine boundary layer
• Ozone depletion events in the arctic boundary layer
• Is the global oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere changing?
• Satellite observations of tropospheric composition
• Satellite observations of stratospheric composition
• Lightning and the global NOx budget
• Sources and chemistry of DMS
• Recent trends in CH4
• Glacial-interglacial variations of CH4
• Planetary photochemistry
• Effects of aerosols on tropospheric ozone
• Secondary organic aerosol formation
• Geoengineering with stratospheric aerosols
• Volcanoes and atmospheric chemistry
• Cloud chemistry
• Formation of the stratospheric ozone layer in Earth's early atmosphere

Communication standards: Please read the Course Netiquette Guidelines for information on communication norms for this course.

Student conduct code and policy: The University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121) defines prohibited academic and behavioral conduct and describes how the University holds students accountable as they pursue their academic goals. Allegations of misconduct by students may be referred to the appropriate campus office for investigation and resolution. More information can be found online at https://www.washington.edu/studentconduct/ (Links to an external site.)

Access and accommodations: Your experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with Disability Resources for Students (DRS), please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. If you have not yet established services through DRS, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but not limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact DRS at 206-543-8924 or uwdrs@uw.edu or disability.uw.edu.  (Links to an external site.)DRS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions.  Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s) and DRS.  It is the policy and practice of the University of Washington to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law.

Religious accommodations: “Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/) (Links to an external site.). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/) (Links to an external site.).”