The challenges faced by the atmospheric research community today are vast, complex, and multi-faceted. The book Urban Atmospheric Aerosols: Sources, Analysis, and Effects highlights important aspects concerning the chemical and optical properties, size distribution, sources, and potential health effects of fine urban air particles (PM2.5). The physical and chemical characterization of PM2.5, its source assignment, and the assessment of the magnitude and distribution of its emissions are crucial for establishing effective fine air particle regulations and assessing the associated risks to human health. This book brings together eight papers covering the main topics of the field and will be of interest to researchers who are interested in air quality in outdoor and indoor environments, air particle toxicity, and atmospheric chemistry, as well as global climate modelers.

The book is divided into two sections. The first section presents characterization of atmospheric aerosols and their impact on regional climate from East Asia to the Pacific. Ground-based, air-born, and satellite data were collected and analyzed. Detailed information about measurement techniques and atmospheric conditions were provided as well. In the second section, authors provide detailed information about the organic and inorganic constituents of atmospheric aerosols. They discuss the chemical and physical processes, temporal and spatial distribution, emissions, formation, and transportation of aerosol particles. In addition, new measurement techniques are introduced. This book hopes to serve as a useful resource to resolve some of the issues associated with the complex nature of the interaction between atmospheric aerosols and climatology.

This book includes basic knowledge and understanding on the characteristics of aerosols over the continent and oceanic regions, their composition, residence times, sinks and size distributions, and their effects in the radiative transfer and climate of Earth.

Ein Blick auf die morphologischen, physikalischen und chemischen Eigenschaften von Aerosolen aus den unterschiedlichsten natürlichen und anthropogenen Quellen trägt zum besseren Verständnis der Rolle bei, die Aerosolpartikel bei der Streuung und Absorption kurz- und langwelliger Strahlung spielen. Dieses Fachbuch bietet Informationen, die sonst schwer zu finden sind, und vermittelt ausführlich die Kenntnisse, die erforderlich sind, um die mikrophysikalischen, chemischen und Strahlungsparameter zu charakterisieren, die bei der Wechselwirkung von Sonnen- und Erdstrahlen so überaus wichtig sind. Besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf den indirekten Auswirkungen von Aerosolen auf das Klima im Rahmen des komplexen Systems aus Aerosolen, Wolken und der Atmosphäre. Auch geht es vorrangig um die Wirkungen natürlicher und anthropogener Aerosole auf die Luftqualität und die Umwelt, auf die menschliche Gesundheit und unser kulturelles Erbe. Mit einem durchgängig lösungsorientierten Ansatz werden nicht nur die Probleme und Gefahren dieser Aerosole behandelt, sondern auch praktikable Lösungswege aufgezeigt.

The book gives in the first instance descriptions of different types of so-called environment chambers or photoreactors used mainly for the simulation and/or investigation of important chemical processes occurring in the atmosphere. The types of reactor described include outdoor and indoor chambers, temperature regulated chambers and glass and Teflon foil chambers The practical use of chambers is demonstrated in contributions by leading scientists in the field of atmospheric chemistry using, in many cases, current results. The types of atmospherically relevant investigations described include the measurement of reactivities, the measurement of radicals, the measurement of photolysis frequencies and products, kinetic and product studies on the oxidation of different types of hydrocarbons by important oxidant species (OH, N03, 03), formation of secondary organic aerosol from hydrocarbon oxidation etc. A special section includes contributions from eastern European countries which highlight some of the environmental research being performed in these countries. An abridged version of a specially commissioned review by the JRC Ispra on the status of environmental research in eastern European countries is also included in this section.

Aerosol particles are ubiquitous in the Earth’s atmosphere and are central to many environmental issues such as climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and air quality. In urban environments, aerosol particles can affect human health through their inhalation. Atmospheric aerosols originate from naturally occurring processes, such as volcanic emissions, sea spray and mineral dust emissions, or from anthropogenic activity such as industry and combustion processes. Aerosols present pathways for reactions, transport, and deposition that would not occur in the gas phase alone. Understanding the ways in which aerosols behave, evolve, and exert these effects requires knowledge of their formation and removal mechanism, transport processes, as well as their physical and chemical characteristics. Motivated by climate change and adverse health effects of traffic-related air pollution, aerosol research has intensified over the past couple of decades, and recent scientific advances offer an improved understanding of the mechanisms and factors controlling the chemistry of atmospheric aerosols. Environmental Chemistry of Aerosols brings together the current state of knowledge of aerosol chemistry, with chapters written by international leaders in the field. It will serve as an authoritative and practical reference for scientists studying the Earth’s atmosphere and as an educational and training resource for both postgraduate students and professional atmospheric scientists.

This book provides the first comprehensive analysis of how aerosols form in the atmosphere through in situ processes as well as via transport from the surface (dust storms, seas spray, biogenic emissions, forest fires etc.). Such an analysis has been followed by the consideration of both observation data (various field observational experiments) and numerical modeling results to assess climate impacts of aerosols bearing in mind that these impacts are the most significant uncertainty in studying natural and anthropogenic causes of climate change.

The increasing concern over environmental and health impact of urban air pollution has lead to a growing need for an international conference focussing specifically on urbanised regions. Although, air quality has gained importance through out the world, it is especially in areas of high urban development that the problems are particularly acute. Scientific interest in this field is particularly evident from the growing number of journal publications and conference presentations. The numerous conferences held every year on air pollution, however, have tended to encompass a broad theme and have not specifically focussed on the urban environment. In order to address this need an international conference on urban air quality was organised by the Environmental Physics Group of the Institute of Physics in collaboration with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), The Royal Meteorological Society (RMS) and the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection (NSCA). Over 100 participants from various countries attended this first international conference on urban air quality. The aim of the conference was to provide a forum for open scientific discussion on the latest advances in the field of urban air quality monitoring and modelling. The range of topics included: chemical and biogenic pollutants, monitoring techniques, instrumentation, analysis of pollutants, spatial and temporal interpretation of air quality data, emission sources and modelling of air quality. All papers submitted for publication were peer reviewed and consequently, some articles were not successful in the refereeing process and have not been included in this special issue.

This volume is a collection of papers presented at the 14th International Conference on Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols, Helsinki, 26 - 30 August 1996. The first conference of this series took place in Dublin (1955); second, Basel and Locarno (1956); third, Cambridge (1958); fourth, Frankfurt am Main and Heidelberg (1961); fifth, Clermont-Ferrand and Tolouse (1963); sixth, Albany and University Park (1966); seventh, Prague and Vienna (1969); eighth, Leningrad (1973); ninth, Galway (1977); tenth, Hamburg (1981); eleventh Budapest (1984); twelfth, Vienna (1988); thirteenth, Salt Lake City (1992). The Atmospheric Aerosol conference has been held jointly with the Nucleation Symposium since 1988 in Vienna in order to stimulate contacts between researchers in these closely related fields. The broad nature of the meeting and the scientific program resulted in 32 countries submitting papers for presentation. Covering both experimental and theoretical studies these papers are divided amongst the chapters on Nucleation, Stratospheric Aerosols and Ice Nucleation, Tropospheric Aerosols and Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interaction. In addition to these contributed papers invitations to present a plenary lecture on topics of particular current interest were accepted by P.J. Crutzen, J. Gras, J.L. Katz, A.A. Lushnikov, D. Oxtoby, J.E. Penner, Th. Peter, F. Raes, S.E. Schwartz, R. Strey and G. Vali. These plenary papers together with the contributed papers provide a well-balanced perspective of the current research over the entire field and highlight some important issues.

This European Community-initiated book presents an up-to-date account of the air pollution situation with special reference to European cities. Its structure follows by and large the logical chain of events in air pollution, from sources, through dispersion and deposition, to impacts.