Daniel J. Jacob is the Gordon McKay Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at Harvard
University. He has taught the undergraduate atmospheric chemistry course at Harvard since 1992. He has published
over 100 research papers in atmospheric chemistry journals.
Review
"The book is well suited to support students in introductory courses and provides a sound physical basis
for more advanced work."
--Choice
"I can actually imagine a rigorous and challenging undergraduate course making it through this whole text
in one semester, which is not the case for its competitors. The problem sets are excellent . . . truly unique."
--Hiram Levy, Princeton University
Submitted by the Publisher, March, 2002
Summary
Atmospheric chemistry is one of the fastest growing fields in the earth sciences. Until now, however, there
has been no book designed to help students capture the essence of the subject in a brief course of study. Daniel
Jacob, a leading researcher and teacher in the field, addresses that problem by presenting the first textbook on
atmospheric chemistry for a onesemester course. Based on the approach he developed in his class at Harvard, Jacob
introduces students in clear and concise chapters to the fundamentals as well as the latest ideas and findings
in the field. Jacob's aim is to show students how to use basic principles of physics and chemistry to describe
a complex system such as the atmosphere. He also seeks to give students an overview of the current state of research
and the work that led to this point. Jacob begins with atmospheric structure, design of simple models, atmospheric
transport, and the continuity equation, and continues with geochemical cycles, the greenhouse effect, aerosols,
stratospheric ozone, the oxidizing power of the atmosphere, smog, and acid rain. Each chapter concludes with a
problem set based on recent scientific literature. This is a novel approach to problemset writing, and one that
successfully introduces students to the prevailing issues. This is a major contribution to a growing area of study
and will be welcomed enthusiastically by students and teachers alike.
Table of Contents
Preface
1 - Measures of Atmospheric Composition
1.1 Mixing Ratio
1.2 Number Density
1.3 Partial Pressure
Further Reading
Problems
1.1 Fog Formation
1.2 Phase Partitioning of Water in Cloud
1.3 The Ozone Layer
2 - Atmospheric Pressure
2.1 Measuring Atmospheric Pressure
2.2 Mass of the Atmosphere
2.3 Vertical Profiles of Pressure and Temperature
2.4 Barometric Law
2.5 The Sea-Breeze Circulation
Problems
2.1 Scale Height of the Martian Atmosphere
2.2 Scale Height and Atmospheric Mass
3 - Simple Models
3.1 One-Box Model
3.1.1 Concept of Lifetime
3.1.2 Mass Balance Equation
3.2 Multibox Models
3.3 Puff Models
Problems
3.1 Atmospheric Steady State
3.2 Ventilation of Pollution from the United States
3.3 Stratosphere- Troposphere Exchange
3.4 Interhemispheric Exchange
3.5 Long Range Transport of Acidity
3.6 Box versus Column Model for an Urban Airshed
3.7 The Montreal Protocol
4 - Atmospheric Transport
4.1 Geostrophic Flow
4.1.1 Coriolis Force
4.1.2 Geostrophic Balance
4.2 The General Circulation
4.3 Vertical Transport
4.3.1 Buoyancy
4.3.2 Atmospheric Stability
4.3.3 Adiabatic Lapse Rate
4.3.4 Latent Heat Release from Cloud Formation
4.3.5 Atmospheric Lapse Rate
4.4 Turbulence
4.4.1 Description of Turbulence
4.4.2 Turbulent Flux
4.4.3 Parameterization of Turbulence
4.4.4 Time Scales for Vertical Transport
Further Readinng
Problems
4.1 Dilution of Power Plant Plumes
4.2 Short Questions on Atmospheric Transport
4.3 Seasonal Motion of the ITCZ
4.4 A Simple Boundary Layer Model
4.5 Breaking a Nightime Inversion
4.6 Wet Convection
4.7 Scavenging of Water in a Thunderstorm
4.8 Global Source of Methane
4.9 Role of Molecular Diffusion in Atmosheric Transport
4.10 Vertical Transport Near the Surface
5 - The Continuity Equation
5.1 Eulerian Form
5.1.1 Derivation
5.1.2 Discretization
5.2 Lagrangian Form
Further Reading
Problems
5.1 Turbulent Diffusion Coefficient
6 - Geochemical Cycles
6.1 Geochemical Cycling of Elements
6.2 Early Evolution of the Atmosphere
6.3 The Nitrogen Cycle
6.4 The Oxygen Cycle
6.5 The Carbon Cycle
6.5.1 Mass Balance of Atmospheric CO2
6 5.2 Carbonate Chemistry in the Ocean
6.5.3 Uptake of CO2 by the Ocean
6 5.4 Uptake of CO2 by the Terrestrial Biosphere
6 5.5 Box Model of the Carbon Cycle
Further Reading
Problems
6.1 Short Questions on the Oxygen Cycle
6.2 Short Questions on the Carbon Cycle
6.3 Atmospheric Residence Time of Helium
6.4 Methyl Bromide
6.5 Global Fertilization of the Biosphere
6.6 Ocean pH
6.7 Cycling of CO2 with the Terrestrial Biosphere
6.8 Sinks of Atmospheric CO2 Deduced from Changes in Atmospheric O2
6.9 Fossil Fuel CO2 Neutralization by Marine CaCO3
7 - The Greenhouse Effect
7.1 Radiation
7.2 Effective Temperature of the Earth
7.2.1 Solar and Terrestrial Emission Spectra
7.2.2 Radiative Balance of the Earth
7.3 Absorption of Radiation by the Atmosphere
7.3.1 Spectroscopy of Gas Molecules
7.3.2 A Simple Greenhouse Model
7.3.3 Interpretation of the Terrestrial Radiation Spectrum
7.4 Radiative Forcing
7.4.1 Definition of Radiative Forcing
7.4.2 Application
7.4.3 Radiative Forcing and Surface Temperature
7.5 Water Vapor and Cloud Feedbacks
7.5.1 Water Vapor
7.5.2 Clouds
7.6 Optical Depth
Further Reading
Problems
7.1 Climate Response to Changes in Ozone
7.2 Interpretation of the Terrestrial Radiation Spectrum
7.3 Jupiter and Mars
7.4 The "Faint Sun " Problem
7.5 Planetary Skin
7.6 Absorption in the Atmospheric Window
8 - Aerosols
8.1 Sources and Sinks of Aerosols
8.2 Radiative Effects
8.2.1 Scattering of Radiation
8.2.2 Visibility Reduction
8.2.3 Perturbation to Climate
Further Reading
Problems
8.1 Residence Times of Aerosols
8.2 Aerosols and Radiation
9.2 Reverse Reactions and Chemical Equilibria
9.3 Photolysis
9.4 Radical-Assisted Reaction Chains
Further Reading
10 - Stratospheric Ozone
10.1 Chapman Mechanism
10.1.1 The Mechanism
10.1.2 Steady-State Solution
10.2 Catalytic Loss Cycles
10.2.1 Hydrogen Oxide Radicals (HOx)
10.2.2 Nitrogen Oxide Radicals (NOx))
10.2.3 Chlorine Radicals (CIOx)
10.3 Polar Ozone Loss
10.3.1 Mechanism for Ozone Loss
10.3.2 PSC Formation
10.3.3 Chronology of the Ozone Hole
Problems
10.1 Shape of the Ozone Layer
10.2 The Chapman Mechanism and Steady State
10.3 The Detailed Chapman Mechanism
10.4 HOx-Catalyzed Ozone Loss
10.5 Chlorine Chemistry at Midlatitudes
10.6 Partitioning of Cly
10.7 Bromine-Catalyzed Ozone Loss
10.8 Limitation of Antarctic Ozone Depletion
10.9 Fixing the Ozone Hole
10.10 PSC Formation
11 - Oxidizing Power of the Troposphere
11.1 The Hydroxyl Radical
11.1.1 Tropospheric Production of OH
11.1.2 Global Mean OH Concentration
11.2 Global Budgets of CO and Methane
11.3 Cycling of HOx and Production of Ozone
11.3.1 The OH Titration Problem
11.3.2 CO Oxidation Mechanism
11.3.3 Methane Oxidation Mechanism
11.4 Global Budget of Nitrogen Oxides
11.5 Global Budget of Tropospheric Ozone
11.6 Anthropogenic Influence on Ozone and OH
Further Reading
Problems
11.1 Sources of CO
11.2 Sources of Tropospheric Ozone
11.3 Oxidizing Power of the Atmosphere
11.4 OH Concentrations in the Past
11.5 Acetone in the Upper Troposphere
11.6 Transport, Rainout, and Chemistry in the Marine
Upper Troposphere
11.7 Bromine Chemistry in the Troposphere
11.8 Nighttime Oxidation of NOx
11.9 Peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN) as a Reservoir for NOx
12 - Ozone Air Pollution
12.1 Air Pollution and Ozone
12.2 Ozone Formation and Control Strategies
12.3 Ozone Production Efficiency
Further Reading
Problems
12.1 NOx- and Hydrocarbon-Limited Regimes for Ozone Production
12.2 Ozone Titration in a Fresh Plume
13 - Acid Rain
13.1 Chemical Composition of Precipitation
13.1.1 Natural Precipitation
13.1.2 Precipitation over North America
13.2 Sources of Acids: Sulfur Chemistry
13.3 Effects of Acid Rain
13.4 Emission Trends
Problems
13.1 What Goes Up Must Come Down
13.2 The True Acidity of Rain
13.3 Aqueous-Phase Oxidation of SO2 by Ozone
13.4 The Acid Fog Problem
13.5 Acid Rain: The Preindustrial Atmosphere
Numerical Solutions to Problems
Appendix. Physical Data and Units
Index
