Syllabus contents:
Syllabus
Class Meeting Times and
Location: Daily (M-F) 10:30 to 11:20 am.
Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Friday: More
Hall (MOR) 221
Thursdays: in Mechanical
Engineering (MEB) 246
Instructors: Lyatt
Jaeglé
& Becky Alexander
e-mail: jaegle@atmos.washington.edu
; beckya@atmos.washington.edu
Phones: (206) 685-2679; (206) 543-0164
Offices: Rooms 302/306 in the
Atmospheric Sciences
Building
Office hours: Wed. 1-3 pm (Lyatt Jaeglé), Fri. 1-3pm (Becky Alexander),
or by appointment
This course is an introduction to air pollution on local, regional, and global scales. We will focus on the sources, transformation, and dispersion of pollutants responsible for urban smog, acid rain, climate change and the stratospheric ozone hole. We will examine the health and environmental effects of air pollutants, as well as current (or potential) technological solutions and international policy regulations. The class will be divided in three parts:
- Introduction
to air pollution (weeks 1-2). We will define air
pollution and present a brief history of current regional and global
air pollution problems. We will discuss the factors controlling the
natural composition of the atmosphere.
- Local
and regional pollution issues (weeks 3-8). In this
part of the class we will discuss the sources and fate of pollutants
focusing on specific local/regional air pollution issues: urban smog,
aerosols and acid rain, visibility, and indoor air pollution. For each
of these issues we will discuss the health and environmental effects,
technological solutions, as well as current national and international
regulations.
- Global
scale pollution issues (weeks 9-11). We will examine
the causes and
effects of two major global air pollution issues: stratospheric ozone
depletion and climate change. We will discuss projections of
future air quality in the U.S. an around the world. Will the future be
cleaner? What choices will we make?
Textbook
Required:
"Atmospheric Pollution" by
Mark Z. Jacobson, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
The lectures will generally
follow the textbook.
Each week the students will be required to read material directly
relevant
to the class. In addition, after each class, lecture notes will posted
on
the web. These notes will summarize the main topics covered and
provide
additional material not included in the book (such as links to web
sites and additional reading material).
Other
useful textbook: "Earth Under Siege" by Richard Turco, Oxford
University Press, 1997.
Both textbooks are placed on
reserve in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library. Max loan period: 4
hours (no overnight).
Prerequisites
None. Open to all undergraduates.
Grading
policy
Your grade will be based on exams
(two
midterms and one final exam), assignments, a research project, and
class
participation:
Assignments
25%
Research
project
25%
Midterms
20%
Comprehensive
final
exam 20%
Quizzes,
class participation
10%
You are expected to attend lectures and participate in class. There will be no make-up exams except in extreme circumstances, in which case you must contact the instructors in advance of the exam.
Research
project and symposium
You will research the details of
some aspect
of air pollution. The instructors will suggest some topics.
Your grade on the project will be
based on (1) a written report (which will need to be revised if you are
taking this as a "W" class) and (2) a poster presentation scheduled for
the last week of class (December 5 & 6 2005).
Assignments
and quizzes
Assignments will require
you to answer questions (mostly short answer) drawn from lectures, the
textbook, and online resources. Some assignments will be a
written critique
of an article in the non-scientific media about some aspect of air
pollution. We will select a few to be presented orally as a basis
for
class discussion.
Assignments are due in class at 10:30 on the day indicated. Late assignments will not be accepted without advance arrangement.
Extra
Credit
There will be a number of extra
credit
opportunities during the course of the quarter. Some will be in the
form
of extra credit questions on quizzes, homework assignments and exams,
others
will be based on attending a seminar related to air pollution,
and writing a short paragraph or two describing what the seminar was
about. We will post dates of some seminars you might find
interesting. Each
student can attend a maximum of 2 seminars for extra credit.
Another possibility is finding a recent article in the popular press
(newspaper article) related to air pollution science, regulation, or
health effects. The students will write a short paragraph or two on the
article.
Last
Updated:
09/07/2005