ENV3616

Atmospheric processes

Associate Professor Martin Hooper

4 points - First semester - Distance education only - 6 hours of private study per week and a 2-day residential school - Prerequisites: ENV1616 and CHM1022

Objectives To provide students with (1) an awareness of the ways in which the atmosphere interacts with the lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere to regulate the overall condition of the environment and the role of atmospheric processes in regulating global climatic conditions; (2) a knowledge of the basic composition and structure of the atmosphere and the energy and mass transfer processes and of the circulation patterns responsible for establishing weather patterns and in influencing global climate; and (3) the skills to detect, quantify and interpret the presence of a range of major atmospheric chemical species, to interpret Australian weather patterns, ocean currents and regional effects and to apply concepts to develop environmental chemical models of the atmosphere, which may be of value in the process of responsible environmental management.

Synopsis This subject is designed to emphasise the function of the atmosphere as a major environmental system and to extend the student's knowledge of the basic chemical and physical processes occurring in the atmosphere. This will provide students with the background to understand current issues such as atmospheric pollution, the enhanced greenhouse effect and stratospheric ozone depletion. The content of the subject involves an examination of the structure of the atmosphere, the mass/energy balances which exist within it, and the effects of aerosol production and cloud formation on the global energy balance. Primary and secondary atmospheric circulation patterns are investigated in order to explain wind and current formation and to introduce the student to the basic principles of meteorology. The subject concludes with an examination of the predominant atmospheric species, relevant biogeochemical cycles, free radical and photochemical reactions and the concepts of global budgets and environmental chemical models.

Assessment One assignment and practical reports: 30% - Examination: 70%

Prescribed texts

Graedel T E and Crutzen P J Atmospheric change: An earth system approach Freeman, 1993

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