1. Global wind patterns

2. Hurricane Interior

3. Typical content of the atmosphere (ppm by volume near the surface)
H2O variable (<20,000)
Argon 9,300 CO
Neon
Helium
Krypton 1
Xenon
Methane NO H NO O
Sox

4. Atmospheric structure
T up to 1500 K due to intense
solar radiation
Chemical composition changes to be
richer in lighter gases, gravitational
stratification almost no H2O or ozone
T relatively constant, increasing to
About 200K at the stratopause
Average dT/dh = -6 K/km
The region of weather!

5. Common Pollutants Sometimes called TSP
Total volume in the US is about 180Mton/yr: about 3.3lb/day.person
Note: this is about HALF of what it was 40 years ago even though the population
and economy have grown substantially

6. Typical Health effects: time and concentration matter

7. Smoke stacks, the first solution

8. Aerosols

9. Temperature Inversion
In extreme cases
the temperature can
actually increase with
height.
The inversion
inhibits convection and
as a result, pollutants
can concentrate near
the ground.

10. Temperature Inversion

11. Acid rain patterns in the US
NOTE: neutral water is pH=7; the lower the number, the stronger the acid.

12. Schanghai Dec. 1993

14. Typical TRACE Impurities in Coal (does not include sulphur, which is not a trace impurity!)
How much lead, mercury, and uranium is emitted per year in the US by power plants burning this stuff?

16. Air pollution profile for typical cities

17. K&H fig 8.13

18. See also an IU article On coal and limestone:

19. Pollution control devices: Power plant

21. Global warming: What is the controversy?
Interesting NPR story on recently rejected coal power plant in Kansas

23. Carbon Cycle

24. Spectrum of Solar radiation at the Earth’s surface
H&K fig 6.2
Absorption bands due to gasses like CO2, H2O, CH4 etc. These are the so-called green-house gasses.

25. http://www.whrc.org/carbon/ (Woods Hole Research Center)

26. CO2 Concentrations and Temperature Change
Note that total temperature change across several ice ages was only about 12oC or about 22oF.
Through the study of ancient ice cores from Antarctica it is possible to compare atmospheric concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere with temperature variations over the past 400,000 years. A visual comparison indicates a very tight connection between their performance. But with the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, CO2 concentrations begin to rise from 280 ppmv (parts per million by volume) in the early 1800s to a current level of 376 ppmv, 77 ppmv above the highest concentrations previously attained.

27. Carbon Cycle

28. Sediments and sedimentary
Rocks could account for another
6x107 Petagrams! (
(Woods Hole Research Center)

29. Ozone in the atmosphere: good and bad
10 ppm ozone at ~ 50 km compared to
40 ppb ozone in the troposphere!

30. Ozone levels at Halley Bay station (Antarctica)

31. TOMS Satellite movie (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer)

32. TOMS Satellite movie (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer)