Chapter 17: Atmospheric Science and Air Pollution
I. Central Case: Clean Air in London
A. The UK led the world into the ______in the 18th and 19th centuries. During this time, London expanded its use of:
B. What happened in 1952?
C. What problems does London have today:
D. How has the “congestion – charging” program improved London’s air quality?
II. Atmospheric Science
A. The atmosphere is the thin layer of gases that surrounds the Earth. It is ____% nitrogen, _____% oxygen, the remaining _____% argon and ______.
B. The atmosphere consists of several layers. Know Figure 17.2
1. The bottommost layer is the ______, where temperature decreases with ______
2. The stratosphere extends from ______above sea level, with its temperature ______gradually with altitude.
3. A portion of the stratosphere between 17 and 30 km above sea level contains most of the atmosphere’s ozone and is called the ozone layer; this layer greatly reduces:
4. Mesosphere:
5. From the outer mesosphere, the thermosphere extends upward to an altitude of______km, where solar rays produce temperatures over ______degrees Celsius.
C. Atmospheric properties include temperature, pressure, and humidity.
1. Atmospheric pressure measures:
2. Relative humidity is:
3. The temperature of air varies with ______and ______, and these temperature differences affect air circulation.
D. Solar energy heats the atmosphere, helps create seasons, and causes air to circulate.
1. Energy from the sun plays a major role in our atmosphere by:
2. The spatial relationship between Earth and the sun determines:
Solar Intensity:
3. Because Earth is tilted on its axis by about ______degrees, the Northern and Southern Hemispheres each ______the sun for one-half of the ______.
4. Land and surface waters absorb:
5. The difference in air temperatures at different altitudes sets into motion convective circulation, as:
E. The atmosphere drives weather and climate.
1. Weather consists of:
2. Climate describes:
F. Weather is produced by interacting air masses.
1. The boundary between two air masses that differ in temperature and density is called a front.
a. A mass of warmer, moister air replacing a mass of colder, drier air is a ______
b. A mass of ______, drier air displacing a ______, moister air mass is a cold front.
2. Adjacent ______may also differ in atmospheric pressure.
a. Air moving ______away from a center of high pressure as it descends is a high-pressure system.
b. Air moving ______a low atmosphere pressure at the center of a rising system is a low-pressure system.
3. One type of weather event has implications for environmental health.
a. temperature inversion, or thermal inversion:
b. inversion layer:
G. Global climate patterns result from large-scale circulation systems.
1. Hadley cells:
2. Two pairs of similar but less intense convective cells, Ferrel cells and polar cells, lift air and create precipitation around ______degrees latitude north and south and cause air to descend at around ______degrees latitude and in the polar regions.
3. These three pairs of cells account for:
4. Coriolis effect:
III.Outdoor Air Pollution
A. Air pollutants are:
B. Much outdoor air pollution comes from ______sources.
1. Winds:
2. Volcanic eruptions:
3. The burning of vegetation:
C. Human activities create various types of outdoor air pollution.
1. Outdoor air pollution from human activity can originate from ______or ______sources.
2. Once in the air, a pollutant may do harm directly or may induce chemical reactions that ______
a. Primary pollutants, such as soot and carbon monoxide, are pollutants emitted:
b. Secondary pollutants are:
D. Legislation called the Clean Air Acts has addressed pollution in the United States.
1. Congress has passed a number of laws dealing with pollution.
a. The Clean Air Act of 1970 set:
b. The Clean Air Act of 1990 sought to:
E. The EPA sets standards for “criteria pollutants.”
1. The EPA gives special attention to:
2. For six criteria pollutants, the EPA has established maximum allowable concentrations.
a. Carbon monoxide is:
b. Sulfur dioxide is:
c. Nitrogen dioxide is:
d. Tropospheric ozone results from:
e. Particulate matter is:
f. Lead is:
F. Agencies monitor pollutants that affect air quality.
1. ______ are a large group of potentially harmful organic chemicals used in industrial processes such as dry cleaning and manufacturing.
2. Human activity accounts for about ______of U.S. VOC emissions, but many tons of VOCs are released from natural sources (______) each year.
3. What are the 4 most abundant pollutants by mass?
G. Air pollution has decreased markedly since 1970. List several reasons for the decline:
How do scrubbers work?
H. Toxic substances are also major pollutants.
1. Other chemicals known to cause serious health or environmental problems are classified as ______
I. Burning fossil fuels produces industrial smog. Explain:
J. ______ is produced by a complex series of atmospheric reactions. Explain:
K. Synthetic chemicals deplete stratospheric ozone.
1. Ozone molecules are considered a pollutant at ______altitudes, but at altitudes of ______they are highly effective at absorbing incoming ______radiation from the sun, thus protecting life on Earth’s surface.
2. Starting in the 1960s, atmospheric scientists began wondering why:
3. In 1974, Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina broke the news that ______ depleted stratospheric ozone by splitting ozone molecules and creating ______molecules from them.
4. In 1985, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey announced that stratospheric ozone levels over Antarctica had declined ______in the previous decade, leaving behind a thinned ozone concentration that was soon dubbed the “______.”
L. The Montreal Protocol addressed ozone depletion.
1. The world community came together in 1987 to design the Montreal Protocol, which has been signed by ______nations.
2. The production and use of ozone-depleting compounds has fallen ______% since the late 1980s.
3. Environmental scientists have attributed the success of the Montreal Protocol to two factors.
a.
b.
M. Acidic deposition represents another transboundary pollution problem.
1. Acidic deposition refers to:
2. Acidic deposition is one type of ______ which is the wet or dry deposition on land of a wide variety of pollutants.
3. Because the pollutants leading to acid rain may travel long distances, their effects:
N. List several effects that acid deposition has on ecosystems in the Northeastern United States.
O. Why has acid deposition not been reduced as much as scientists had hoped.
IV. Indoor Air Pollution
A. Indoor air generally contains ______concentrations of pollutants than do outdoor spaces.
B. The average U.S. citizen spends at least ______% of his or her time indoors.
C. Some attempts to be environmentally prudent during the “energy crisis” of 1973–1974 resulted in:
D. Indoor air pollution in the developing world:
E. Recognizing indoor air pollution as a problem is still fairly novel.
1. The 1970 U.S. Clean Air Act did not:
2. Today we know far less about indoor air pollution than we do about:
F. Tobacco smoke and radon are the most deadly indoor pollutants in the developed world.
1. Secondhand smoke:
2. After cigarette smoke, radon gas is:
G. Many volatile organic compounds pollute indoor air.
1. Products that emit VOCs surround us; VOCs are emitted:
2. The implications for human health of chronic exposure to VOCs are:
H. Living organisms can pollute indoor spaces.
1. ______can all cause health problems.
2. These organisms may be the most widespread source of indoor air pollution in the ______world.
3. Microbes that induce ______are thought to be one frequent cause of building-related illness.
I. We can reduce indoor air pollution.
1. The use of ______materials and ______are the keys to alleviating indoor air pollution in almost any situation.
2. Remedies for fuelwood pollution in the developing world include: