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Course Objectives and Description:
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This course deals with various issues and aspects of air quality. The scientific and
regulatory issues associated with air quality for the ambient (outdoor) environment and
indoor environments are the central themes for this course. The course will begin with
outdoor air quality focusing on classical smog and photochemical smog and the criteria
air pollutants. Some attention will also be given to the related issue of acidic
deposition (acid rain). The course will then shift to hazardous air pollutants and
other topics in air quality including odor, noise, light, and thermal pollution.
Although ambient air quality issues seem to receive the lion's share of the attention,
indoor air quality is probably of more importance to the welfare of most Americans.
That will be the focus of the latter part of the course. [Note: I do not plan to cover
the issues of stratospheric ozone depletion or global warming.]
The discussion of each
of these issues will cover several subjects such as:
- Science and politics of air quality in historical perspective
- Health and environmental consequences of air quality
- Chemistry and meteorology of air quality
- Sources of pollutants
- Abatement methods
- Air quality legislation
- Instrumental techniques for monitoring air quality
- Statistical techniques used in the presentation of data and for regulatory policy
This course is an elective for students majoring in Environmental Science.
It is also appropriate for other students with some science and math background
(pre-requisites Mat111 and Phy108 or equivalent). Students without sufficient
pre-requisites should consider ATM102. This course does not yield elective credits
toward the B.S. in Atmospheric Science; a more technically rigorous exposure is available
with ATM414 Air Pollution Meteorology, also being offered this semester.
Grading:
- Grading will be based on exams and homework exercises for ATM 304 and additionally
for ATM304Z on writing assignments. The last exam is scheduled for
Thursday May 13 @ 10:30 a.m.
ATM 304:
3 Exams = 75% (25% each)
Homework = 25%
ATM 304Z:
3 Exams = 52.5% (17.5% each)
Homework = 17.5%
Writing Assignments = 30%
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