Trace Atmospheric Constituents

Virtually every element in the periodic table is found in the atmosphere however, when classifying atmospheric species according to chemical composition, it proves to be convenient to use a small number of major groupings such as 

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics From Air Pollution to Climate Change, Second Edition, by John H. Seinfeld and Spyros N. Pandis. Copyright 2006 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

The main questions that we will seek to answer with respect to classes of atmospheric compounds are as follows  

What are the species present in the atmosphere What are their natural and anthropogenic sources  

What chemical reactions do they undergo in the atmosphere What are the rates of these reactions  

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IUPAC recommendation (Atkinson et al., 1997a) based on Horowitz and Calvert,. /. Phys. Chem., 86, 3105 (1982) and Meyrahn et al., in Atmospheric Trace Constituents, F. Herbert, Ed., Mainz, Germany (1981). 

Transport Patterns and Residence Times for Atmospheric Trace Constituents vs. Altitude... 

In this lecture the scientific requirements for stratospheric and tropospheric remote sensing are discussed and recent developments are reviewed. The development of atmospheric trace constituent remote sounding is discussed. An emphasis is placed on stratospheric and tropospheric trace gas measurements from satellites orbiting the earth. The current and next generation of instrumentation to make global measurements is then discussed. 

Remote sensing of trace atmospheric trace constituents is a relatively new science. It has two driving motivations ... 

Slinn, W.G.N. et al. (1978) Some aspects of the transfer of atmospheric trace constituents past the air-sea interface. Atmos. Environ., 12, 2055-2087. 

Slinn W. G. N., Some influences of the atmospheric water cycle on the removal of atmospheric trace constituents, pp. 57-92 in Atmospheric Chemistry (E. D. Goldberg, Editor), Dahlem Konferenzen, Springer, Berlin, 384 pp. (1982). 

Fehsenfeld, F.C., and E.E. Ferguson, Laboratory studies of negative ion reactions with atmospheric trace constituent. J Chem Phys 61, 3181, 1974. 

Finally, a few words must be added about spatial averages. They are important in all global considerations of atmospheric trace constituents. A continuous three-dimensional representation of data is neither practical nor... 

Figure 2-18 shows the altitude dependence of photodissociation coefficients for several important photoactive atmospheric trace constituents discussed above. These data should be compared with those given in Table 2-7. For the group II gases H20, N20, and CF2C12, whose absorption spectra... 

Meyrahn, H., G. K. Moortgart, and P. Wameck (1982). The photolysis of acetaldehyde under atmospheric conditions. In Atmospheric Trace Constituents (F. Herbert, ed.), pp. 65-72. Vieweg and Sohn, Braunschweig. 

Singh, H. B., L. Salas, H. Shigeishi, and A. Crawford (1977b). Urban-non-urban relationships of halocarbons, SF6, N,0 and other atmospheric trace constituents. Atmos. Environ. 11, 819-828. 

The stratosphere can be considered well mixed vertically only for atmospheric species with lifetimes substantially exceeding 50 years. In fact, one of the only examples of such a long-lived species is He, which has its source at the Earth s surface and its sink as escape through the very top of the atmosphere into space. Thus the stratosphere is poorly mixed vertically for essentially all atmospheric trace constituents. 

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