Chemistry of Atmospheres

This book explains the chemistry that occurs in the atmospheres of Earth, the planets, and some satellites. Although written from the perspective of physical chemistry, it makes unusually strong links to the underlying physics, geology, and, on Earth, biology that determine the chemical composition of an atmosphere and its behaviour. Chemistry in the Earth's troposphere and stratosphere are explored, as are the phenomenon of airglow in the mesosphere and the properties of the ionosphere. The impacts of man's activities on, for example, the depletion of stratospheric ozone or the pollution of the urban environment are given due weight. One chapter is devoted to the wealth of data obtained largely from space missions about the atmospheres of other bodies in the solar system. The origin and evolution of these atmospheres as well as our own are explored, and the relation between the atmosphere and climate in the past and in the future is considered in relation to Earth.