School of Environmental Sciences
University of East AngliaERCA 2002
European Research Course on Atmospheres
Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble
Universite Joseph FourierNotes and materials from my lectures. I will expand these over time if there are queries and requests or students who were present in Grenoble.
Peter Brimblecombe
Lecture 1 Air pollutants and their healthimpact
Asthma and air pollution. The historical development of health issues: anthracosis, sinusitus, rickets. Particles and their impact on health. How do particles affect health? Older issues such as synergisms with SO2 and smoke and how to regard SO2 in modern European atmospheres.
References and web resources:
- DoH reports on air pollution
- WHO or UK Air Quality Standards and Guidelines.
- Source Book: Holgate ST Samet JM Koren HS Maynard RL (1999) Air Pollution and Health Academic Press
- Article: JGAyres, Health effects of air pollution, Chemistry & Industry, p. 827 November 1996.
Lecture 2 Effects on materials
Effects on materials. Building stone and the long term change to its damage by sulphur and nitrogen deposition. Damage to metals and the problem of the corrosion of iron. Air pollutants and indoor materials. Dust in cultural properties.
References and web resources:
- Sabbioni C.
Aerosol and stone monuments
In Aerosol Chemical Processes in the Environment
(Ed. K.R. Spurny) CRC Press,
Florida (2000) pp. 327-346.
- Sabbioni C. and Zappia G.
Atmospheric-derived element tracers on damaged stone.
The Science of the Total Environment, 126, pp. 35-48 (1992)
- Sabbioni C. and Zappia G. et al
Black crusts on ancient mortars
Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 32, 2, pp. 215-223 (1998).
- TEGraedel Degradation of materials in the atmosphere Environmental Science and Technology, 20, 1093 (1986)
- Brimblecombe P.
The composition of museum air, Atmospheric Environment, Vol 24B,
pp 1-8, (1990)
- Brimblecombe P.
The balance of environmental factors attacking artifacts, in
Krumbein, W., Brimblecombe, P., Cosgrove, D.E. & Staniforth,
S.(Eds) Durability and Change: The Science, Responsibility, and Cost of Sustaining Cultural Heritage, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester (1994) pp. 67-79.
- Yoon, Y.H. and Brimblecombe P.
The distribution of soiling by coarse particulate matter in the museum environment, Indoor Air 11, 232-240 (2001).
Lecture 3 Interfacing atmospheric chemistry with European air pollution policy
The changes in pollutants with time, most notably the transition from primary to secondary pollutants. The evolution of air pollution control - early philosophies of burning your own smoke. The origins of monitoring networks and the professions associated with this. The importance of chemical reactions for air pollution control policy. Most particularly POCP (photochemical ozone creation potential) and problems of benzene in fuels and reducing NOx emissions alone, as illustrated in the classic diagram of 
ozone contours as a function of NOx and hydrocarbons.
Strategies for monitoring. Air quality management: Strategies for air pollution control: AQM, emission control, economic instruments, CBA. Unravelling the complexity of AQM. What are the advantages of emission control? Problems with O3. Why we need sophisticated approaches when dealing with secondary pollutants.
References and web resources:
- Book Chapter:
- +Derek Elsom, Atmospheric Pollution Chap. 7: Air Pollution Control Strategies
- Bowler, C. & Brimblecombe P., Battersea Power Station and environmental issues 1929-1989, Atmospheric Environment, , 25B, 1991) pp. 143-51.
- Reports for the Review of the National Air Quality Strategy are available at the National Air Quality Information Archive and give a sense of where we are going. There is also a general view of the European position.
Lecture 4 Acid rain, forests and forest fires
The natural sources of acidity: volcanoes and meterotie impacts. The shifting balance of N and S deposition and S defficiency in crops. Organic compounds as acids, particularly oxalic and pinic acid. Forest aerosols and forest fires
References and web resources:
- Source Volume: Acid rain 2000 Water Air and Soil Pollution Volume 130, pages 1-1854 contains many recent papers on acid rain.
- Source Book: Eaton P and Radojevic, M., Forest
Fires and Regional Haze in Southeast Asia Nova Science Publishers New York, 2001.
- Forest fires
- Interaction of small asteroids in the Earth's atmosphere.
Image from http://www.epa.gov/epahome/Citizen.html