AOSC / CHEM 433 & AOSC / CHEM 633 Atmospheric Chemistry & Climate
Instructor: Ross Salawitch
Grader: Laura McBride
Tues-Thurs, 2:00 to 3:15 pm
Fall 2020: 3 units
Required Text:
Chemistry in Context: Applying Chemistry to Society
7th edition, American Chemical Society
Text can be purchased if you'd like. Or, can download PDF file here.
Supplemental Text:
Global Warming: The Complete Briefing (5th edition) by John Houghton
Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope by Ross J. Salawitch, Timothy P. Canty, Austin P. Hope, Walter R. Tribett, and Brian F. Bennett
Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer by Ross J. Salawitch, David W. Fahey, Michaela I. Hegglin, Laura A. McBride, Walter R. Tribett, and Sarah J. Doherty
Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy by George A. Olah, Alain Goeppert, and G. K. Surya Prakash
Green Chemistry: An Inclusive Approach, edited by Béla Török and Timothy Dransfield (graduate students will be assigned two chapters)
Readings from Supplemental Text will be assigned via password protected files posted below. These files are to be used only for this course.
Notes:
1) We will use the 7th edition of Chemistry in Context rather than the latest (9th edition) because of student cost (there are hundreds of used copies of the 7th edition available on Amazon for under $20; there is no used copy market for the 9th edition). In addition, since Ross actually helped write the 7th edition, as noted on page xiv of the Preface, he is able to provide registered students access to an electronic version of the book, as will be discussed during the first class meeting.
2) We will use Chapter 1 and a few other readings from Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope that Ross and his team wrote. This book is available electronically, for free, via open access. Hard copies can be purchased from various on-line venders for ~$45 to $60. Students are welcome to use the free electronic version of the book for the class.
3) We will attempt to record all lectures. If the recording is successful, the link for "Video" in the table below will become "hot". Students are expected to attend lecture via Zoom. We record lectures to assist students with occasional inability to attend class and to help students review lecture material, particularly for exam preparation.
The effects of human activity on atmospheric composition, focused on global warming, the carbon cycle, air pollution, and the ozone layer. Fundamentals of atmospheric chemistry (spectroscopy, kinetics, isotopic analysis, and biogeochemical cycles) are related to the modern understanding of climate change, air quality, and ozone depletion, based on resources such as satellite missions, field campaigns, and scientific assessments published by international agencies. We also examine how society’s future energy needs could be met in a manner with less impact on atmospheric composition than the present heavy reliance on combustion of fossil fuels.
The course is taught at a level appropriate for upper class undergraduate physical science majors and first year graduate students.
Pre-requisites: CHEM131 or CHEM135 or CHEM146 and MATH 241 or permission of the instructors.
|
Date |
Lecture Topic |
Required Reading |
Admis. Tickets |
Lecture
Notes |
Problem Sets* |
Additional
|
Learning Outcome |
| 09/01 | Class Overview |
No reading for first meeting |
No AT | No Quiz | |||
| 09/03 |
Geological Evolution of Earth's
Atmosphere |
Sec 1.1, 1.2 (intro), and 1.2.1 (11.5 pages) |
Quiz 1 | ||||
| 09/05 |
Voluntary viewing of
Day The Dinosaurs Died
|
None |
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/day-the-dinosaurs-died | None | |||
|
09/08 |
Overview of Global Warming,
Air Quality, & Ozone Depletion |
(1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, & 3.1) (11 pages) (11 pages) (11 pages) Paris Beacon of Hope Sec 1.2.2 (3 pages) |
|
Quiz 2 | |||
|
09/10 |
Fundamentals of Earth's
Atmosphere |
Chemistry in Context: Sections 1.0 to 1.2, 1.5 to 1.8, 1.14, 2.1, 3.6 & 3.7 (~28 pgs) McElroy, Effective Temperature & The Concept of Geostrophy (4 pages) |
Quiz 3 | ||||
| 09/12 |
Lecture 3 catch-up: Will greatly appreciate if students watch the 25 minute video |
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|
09/15 |
Climates of the Past |
Chemistry in Context, Sec 2.2, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 (14 pages) (pgs 77-84) Paris Beacon of Hope Sec 1.1 (7 pages; please review) |
(questions 6.1, 6.2)
Parrenin et al., Science, 2013
|
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|
09/17 |
Global Carbon Cycle |
(8 pages) Paris Beacon of Hope Sec 1.2.3.2 (8 pages) |
|
IPCC 2007, Section
7.3.4.1 &
Doney, Ocean Acidification, Scientific American, March 2006
|
Quiz 5 | ||
|
09/22 |
Biogeochemical Cycles of
CH4 and N2O |
(8 pages) Paris Beacon of Hope Sec 1.2.3.3 & 1.2.3.4 (5 pages) |
|
Problem Set 1 due today: |
Quiz 6 | ||
| 09/24 |
Radiative Forcing |
(14 pages) Paris Beacon of Hope Sec 1.2 (intro), 1.2.1 (please review), & 1.2.3.6 (8 pages) |
Green Chemistry, Chapter 3.4 (Sections 3.4.4.1 to 3.4.4.4 provide a nice mathematical complement to the lecture material)
|
Quiz 7 | |||
| 09/27 |
Lecture 7 catch-up: Will greatly appreciate if students watch the 20 minute video |
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|
09/29 |
Modeling Earth's Climate:
Water Vapor, Aerosol, Cloud, & Albedo Feedbacks |
(6 pages) |
Quiz 8 | ||||
| 10/01 |
Consequences of Climate Change |
Sec 3.10 (5 pages)
|
No AT | No Quiz | |||
| 10/03 |
Problem Set 2 due today at 5 pm: |
Bonus Video: 13 min long, Sixty Minutes story on Calif
wildfires that aired 4 Oct 2020. Well worth watching if you have time.
|
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| 10/06 |
Review of Problem Sets #1 & #2, as well as Lectures 1 to 8, in preparation for the First Exam |
No AT | No Quiz | ||||
| 10/08 |
First Exam was supposed to be held, but canceled due to outage of this website caused by a power issue in our server room. |
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| 10/13 |
First Exam: Will cover first Lectures 1 to 8 as well as first two Problem Sets
On line, open book, 75 mins long. Students are expected to take the exam during regular class ours on Thursday, 8 Oct, and be logged into ELMS (video on, sound muted) during the exam. |
433 students are responsible for the material covered in Lectures 1 to 8, the material in Chapter 1 of Paris Beacon of Hope (minus Section 1.2.3.5 and the Methods section; 31 pages) and the other readings from Chemistry in Context, Houghton, plus the IPCC, EPA, and 20 QAs Ozone readings assigned for Lecture 2.
Link to
exam: |
633 students are responsible for all of the 433 readings (as detailed to the left) plus all of the items marked above with an asterisk | ||||
|
10/15
|
Review of First Exam and Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry |
Sec 2.0, 2.1, 2.3, & 2.6 (10 pages) |
No AT Please consider completing the Student Survey |
Quiz 10 | |||
|
10/20 |
Introduction to
Photolysis |
Sec 2.7 (5 pages) (3 pages) Section 2.4 and 2.5 of Warneck, Chemistry of the Natural Atmosphere (16 pages. Challenging material that will be tough sledding for some; read as best you can) |
|
Quiz 11 | |||
| 10/21 |
Lecture 11 catch-up: Will greatly appreciate if students watch the first 19 mins, 20 sec of this video |
(sound is a little low, so will have to crank volume) |
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| 10/22 |
Introduction to Chemical
Kinetics |
Sec 4.6 (4 pages) Yung & DeMore, Photochemistry of Planetary Atmospheres,Ch 3 (please read up to start of Section 3.7; 18 pages. Again, challenging material; read as best you can).
|
AT 12 | Quiz 12 | |||
| 10/27 |
Pollution of Earth's Troposphere: Surface Ozone |
(26 pages) |
Green Chemistry, Chapter 3.2 (all but Sections 3.2.4 & 3.2.5)* |
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| 10/28 |
Lecture 13 catch-up: Will greatly appreciate if students watch this 18 minute masterpiece (ha ha) |
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| 10/29 |
Pollution of Earth's Troposphere: Acid Rain & Aerosols |
(27 pages)
Please watch first 7 min, 10 sec
|
Green Chemistry, Chapter 3.2 (Sections 3.2.4 & 3.2.5)* | Quiz 14 | |||
|
11/03 |
Pollution of Earth's Stratosphere: Mid-Latitude Ozone Depletion |
(7 pages) 20 QAs Ozone (Q3, 5 to 8, 12 to 15) (27 pgs; Q7 & Q14 had also been assigned for Lecture 2, so there are 21 pgs of new material) |
Paper Desc
|
Green Chemistry, Chapter 3.3 (Sections 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, and 3.3.5)* Video 1 (only part was shown in class) |
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|
11/05 |
Pollution of Earth's Stratosphere: Polar Ozone Depletion |
(12 pages) Great if you can also watch the video on the NASA press release. Please note at the 2 min 42 sec mark, the narrator says "around the year 2070" while the caption states "around the year 2017". I've let NASA know of this error, which will hopefully soon by fixed. |
Green Chemistry, Chapter 3.3 (Section 3.3.4)*
Video 1 (only 35:15 to 36:40 was shown in class)
Video 2 (only 0:35 to 2:56 was shown in class)
Video 3 (I could listen to this swoosh of the NASA ER-2 takeoff all day long!)
Video 4 (only 0:04 to 0:24 was shown in class; please watch rest of this video) |
||||
|
11/10 |
Pollution of Earth's Stratosphere: Ozone Recovery and Chemistry/Climate Interactions |
(4 1/4 pages)
|
No AT |
Chapter 3.3, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion and Recovery (Section 3.3.6)* |
Quiz 17 | ||
|
11/12 |
Review of Lectures 10 to 17 in preparation for the Second Exam |
No Reading |
No AT |
Problem Set 3 due today | No Quiz | ||
| 11/17 |
Second Exam: Will cover first Lectures 10 to 17 as well as first third Problem Set
On line, open book, fixed time. Can take at your convenience, as described in class, in one sitting between a specified start and end time. |
433 students are responsible for the material covered in Lectures 10 to 17 and all associated readings. Please note the focus of this exam will be Lectures 9 to 17: it is possible there could be some element of the exam that covers a concept introduced in the first 9 lectures.
Link to
exam: |
633 students are responsible for all of the 433 readings (as detailed to the left) plus all of the items marked above with an asterisk |
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|
11/19 |
Kyoto Protocol, Paris Climate Agreement, Fossil Fuel Reserves, World Energy Needs, and The Need for Renewable Energy |
4.2, 4.4 & 4.5, (23 pages) Paris Beacon of Hope Sections 3.1, 4.1, and 4.2 (14 pages) |
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|
Mon 11/23 6 pm |
Review of Problem Set #3 and Second Exam | No Reading | No AT |
(must advance to 7 min, 24 sec mark: sorry) |
No Quiz | ||
|
11/24 |
Renewable Energy I: Solar, Hydro and Wind |
Sec 8.7, 8.8 & 8.9 (Conc) (11 pages) |
Quiz 19 |
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| 11/30 |
Lecture 19 catch-up: Will greatly appreciate if students watch this XX minute video sometime this week |
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|
12/01 |
Renewable Energy II: Biofuels, Ethanol and Algae |
(7 pages)
(13 pages)
(4 pages) |
BECCS |
Quiz 20 | |||
| 12/03 | Fracking |
Fracking Debate: Please read main page plus at least one "no" and one "yes"
position statement in response to "is fracking a good idea?"
please read the "Introduction" as well as the section entitled "How Much Methane is Emitted by Natural Gas Systems" |
(633 students please read rest of this paper) |
Quiz 21 | |||
| 12/08 |
Nuclear Energy |
|
Problem Set
4 due
today (at midnight) |
Chemistry in Context, Sec 7.2 & 7.6
|
Quiz 22 | ||
| 12/10 | Geo-engineering of Climate |
No AT |
633 Paper Due | Quiz 23 | |||
|
Mon 12/14 6 pm |
Review of Problem Set #4 |
No Reading | No AT | No Quiz | |||
|
No Final Exam |
Please complete Learning Outcome Quizzes for Lectures 18 to 23, which replaces the final exam. |
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Problem sets due on the date listed
* Reading strongly suggested for students enrolled in AOSC / CHEM 633
The overall grades will be based on problems sets (30%),
admission tickets (30%), two in-class exams (13.33%) each, and
the final exam (13.34%). In addition, students enrolled in AOSC / CHEM 633 are
required to write a research paper that is 5 to 8 pages long (single spaced;
length does not include figures or references) on a topic of their choosing related to the
material covered in class. Grade on the paper will be factored into
their overall grade at a proportion equal to the weight of each
exam (i.e. for graduate students, each exam and the paper will be worth 10% each
of the overall grade).
To encourage completion of the reading assignments prior to class, there is an admission ticket to be completed on ELMS prior to the the start of each class (with the exception of the first lecture). The admission ticket (AT) is a short series of questions drawn from the reading. Each ticket will be graded in a prompt manner. The lowest three AT scores will be dropped. The overall AT grade counts 30% towards the final course grade. The ATs require a considerable amount of effort, reflected in the 30% weight towards the final grade.
In many cases, the answer(s) to the admission ticket
question(s) will be worked into the lecture. Hence, the requirement that admission ticket
solutions be complete in prior to the start of lecture.
Admission tickets will be posted on this website at least 24 hours prior to the start of each lecture. If an admission ticket for a particular lecture is not posted by 2 pm the day prior to a particular lecture, there will be no admission ticket for that class. Also, if an item other than an admission ticket link appears in the admission ticket column for a particular lecture, there will no admission ticket for that class meeting.
Please remember to hit the ''refresh'' button to see the latest version of this website each time you visit, as we intend to update the website file frequently during the course.