Chemistry of Atmospheres : An Introduction to the Chemistry of the Atmospheres of Earth, the Planets, and their Satellites (3RD)

Atmospheric chemistry has been the focus of much research activity in recent years, and there is now heightened public awareness of the environmental issues in which it plays a part. In a clear, readable style, this important book looks at the insights and interpretations afforded by the research, and places in context the exciting, dramatic, and sometimes disturbing findings. Like its highly successful predecessor, this new edition lays down the principles of atmospheric chemistry and provides the necessary background for more detailed study. The text has been thoroughly revised and expanded throughout to take into account recent advances in atmospheric science that include a host of new atmospheric measurements, extended laboratory experiments, ever more sophisticated models, and ingenious interpretations of the phenomena. Heterogeneous processes are now known to be of great significance in the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere, and new sections of the book discuss the influence of such processes on both the stratosphere and the troposphere. A major eruption, that of Mount Pinatubo, has highlighted how volcanoes can influence 'natural' atmospheric chemistry, and the opportunity is taken to examine the effects of the gases and particles produced in such eruptions. The startling discovery of the 'Antarctic ozone hole' has now been matched by observations of similar ozone losses in the Arctic; both phenomena are explored in more depth than before, and the whole question of trends in stratospheric ozone concentrations is updated. New topics in tropospheric chemistry that are discussed in this edition for the first time include the atmospheric chemistry of biogenic hydrocarbons, of aromatic compounds, and of halogens and halogen-containing species. Several aspects have been added to the examination of air pollution, including the effects of biomass burning. Rapid changes in the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, apparently a result of man's activities, are appare