Chemistry of the Lower Atmosphere

ISBN-13: 9781468419887 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 335 str.

S. Rasool

Opis

About three years ago Catherine de Berg and I published a short article in Nature in which we attempted to explain why the chemistry of the atmosphere of the Earth is today so completely different from that of our two neighbor ing planets, Mars and Venus. Our atmosphere is composed mainly of N2 and O with traces of A, H0, CO, 0, etc., while the atmospheres of both 2 2 2 3 Mars and Venus are almost entirely made up of CO, Also, the Earth appears 2 to be the only one ofthe three planets which has oceans ofliquid water on the surface. Since the presence of liquid water on Earth is probably an essential requirement for life to have originated and evolved to its present state, the question of the apparent absence ofliquid water on Mars and Venus suddenly acquires significant proportions. In our paper in Nature, and later in a more detailed discussion of the subject (Planetary Atmospheres, in Exobiology, edited by C. Ponnamperuma, North Holland Publishing Co. ), we tried to describe why we believe that in the early history of the solar system all the terrestrial planets lost the atmospheres of H2 and He which they had acquired from the solar nebula at the time of their formation. These planets, completely devoid of atmos pheres, like the Moon today, started accumulating new gases which were exhumed from the interior by the commencement of volcanic activity."

Spis treści

1 The Role of Natural and Anthropogenic Pollutants in Cloud and Precipitation Formation.- 1. Introduction.- 2. If There Were No Aerosols in the Atmosphere.- 3. The Role of Aerosols in Nucleating Cloud Drops.- 3.1. The Role of Ions.- 3.2. The Role of Water-Soluble, Hygroscopic Particles.- 3.3. The Role of Water-Insoluble Particles.- 4. The Role of Aerosols in the Formation of Precipitation in Warm Clouds.- 5. The Role of Aerosols in Nucleating Ice Crystals.- 6. The Role of Aerosols in the Formation of Precipitation in Supercooled Clouds.- References.- 2 Particulate Matter in the Lower Atmosphere.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Troposphere.- 2.1. Sources of Particles.- 2.2. Composition of Particles Collected from the Atmosphere.- 2.3. Particle Concentrations and Size Distributions.- 2.4. Mechanisms of Removal and Residence Times.- 3. The Lower Stratosphere.- 3.1. The Sulfate Layer.- 3.2. Mechanisms of Removal and Residence Times.- References.- 3 Removal Processes of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Physical Chemistry of Removal of Trace Gases.- 2.1. Water-Insoluble Constituents.- 2.2. Water-Soluble Constituents.- 2.3. Chemical Reactivity and Sulfur Dioxide.- 3. Removal Mechanisms for Aerosols.- 3.1. Dynamical Processes and Aerosol Removal.- 4. Summary and Conclusions.- Acknowledgment.- References.- 4 The Global Sulfur Cycle.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The Nature of the Sulfur Cycle.- 3. The Chemistry of Sulfur in the Global Environment.- 4. Concentrations of Sulfur.- 4.1. The Atmosphere.- 4.2. Crustal Sulfur.- 5. Contents of the Reservoirs.- 6. Transfer Mechanisms and Rates.- 6.1. The Atmosphere.- 6.2. The Pedosphere.- 6.3. The Hydrosphere.- 6.4. River Runoff.- 6.5. Lithosphere.- 6.6. Mantle.- 7. The Global Sulfur Cycle.- 8. Discussion.- 8.1. Comparison with the Cycles.- 8.2. Background Concentrations of Atmospheric Sulfur.- 8.3. Mobilization of Sulfur by Man.- 8.4. Pollution Sulfur in River Waters.- References.- Bibliography of Sulfur Cycles.- 5 The Chemical Basis for Climate Change.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Lessons to be Learned from the Past.- 3. Approach to a Theory of Climate: Interactions Among Atmospheric Chemistry, Radiation, Radiation, and Dynamics.- 3.1. Summary of Factors Affecting the Climate.- 3.2. Physical and Mathematical Formulations of the Theory of Climate.- 4. Natural and Man-Made Influences on Atmospheric Composition.- 4.1. Carbon Dioxide from Fossil Fuels.- 4.2. Particles in the Atmosphere.- 4.3. Changes in the Stratosphere.- Acknowledgment.- References.- 6 The Carbon Dioxide Cycle: Reservoir Models to Depict the Exchange of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide with the Oceans and Land Plants.- Preface.- I. Formulation and Mathematical Solution of the Model Equations.- 1. Introduction.- 1.1 Introductory Remarks.- 1.2. Review of Previous Work.- 1.3. Preliminary Modeling Considerations.- 1.4. Physical Basis for the Models.- 2. Three-Reservoir Atmosphere-Ocean Tandem Model.- 3. Four-Reservoir Tandem Model with Land Biota.- 4. Five-Reservoir Branched Model with Divided Land Biota.- II. Chemical Specification and Numerical Results.- Preface.- 5. Derivation of Transfer Coefficients for the Land Biota.- 6. Derivation of Transfer Coefficients for Air-Sea Exchange.- 6.1. Influence of the Buffer Factor.- 6.2. Steady-State Exchange.- 6.3. Transient Exchange.- 7. Derivation of Transfer Coefficients for Exchange Within the Ocean.- 7.1. Steady-State Exchange.- 7.2. Transient Exchange.- 8. Observational Data.- 8.1. Global Summaries.- 8.2. Carbon Fluxes and Masses of the Land Biota.- 9. Numerical Results and Discussion.- 9.1. Additional Observational Data.- 9.2. Comparison of Three- and Five-Reservoir Models.- 9.3. Search for a Best Fit with Observed Atmospheric Variations.- Appendix A. Factors to Solve Four-Reservoir Model.- Appendix B. Equations for Five-Reservoir Model.- References.