Air Pollution

Course Structure & Logistics Lecture 1:

AOS 2

What is Science?
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Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences 2 Air Pollution

Prof. Suzanne Paulson, Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science & Institute of the Environment 7949 Math Sciences Bldg paulson@atmos.ucla.edu Office Hours: M Monday 2:30-3:00 PM, T 11-12 AM and by appointment
TAs: Michelle Kuang and Trung Nguyen, Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, 7th Floor Math Sciences xmkuang88@ucla.edu ; trnguye@atmos.ucla.edu

Labs and other communications may be dropped in the TAs individual mailbox in the mailroom near the AOS Main Office, 7127 Math Sciences.
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Goals of this Course

Learn basics of Air pollution in the old sense (urban air pollution) and the new sense (climate change). Learn about how science works. Have fun!

 Lectures: posted online, sometimes before.

Course Organization

2 formats: 1/pg for viewing, and 6/pg for printing. Note there is a number on each slide, use this for note taking. Demos Quizzes

Discussion: You must enroll in both the lecture and

one discussion section.

Laboratory: You may enroll separately in the

laboratory component of the course, AOS-2L, for an additional 1 unit of lab credit. If you need it.
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Textbook: Reader
Available at Course Reader Materials.
Blue-green cover. (~$35they told me) Open 9-6 M-F and 10-4 1st 2 Saturdays of the quarter
Reading assignments specified on syllabus. It is a combination of Botkin and Keller 2009 (~$126) and articles that are freely available on the web.

Course Reader Materials: 1081 Westwood Blvd., Entrance on Broxton

Grading: 200 total points

Mid-Term Thursday, February 4th, class hour. 55 pts Final Exam Friday, March 19, 8:00-11:00 AM 105 pts Quizzes Four, unannounced, 10 minutes. Three highest scores count; no make-ups. 3 10 pts = 30 pts Discussion Participation 10 pts Make-up Exams No makeup midterm. But! Final can count for 160 pts. Which ever grading scheme helps you most will be used automatically. Makeup final will only be given immediately preceding or some time after the regularly scheduled exam. And only with documented, very good reasons. Examinations: closed-book; mainly true/false, multiple-choice, some short answers; student ID and pencil necessary. Class grades will be curved, 30% As, 50% Bs, 20% C and lower. Lab Section: A separate letter grade is based on scores for laboratory homework assignments.
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Class Connections
Lecture PDF Files and podcasts: You will have access to the lecture material PDFs at the ccle website(s). http://ccle.ucla.edu
Podcasts are at www.bruincast.ucla.edu

Lab Worksheets: Copies of the lab worksheets will also be available at the site above once you have registered, and when they are ready. You must register for lab section separately. Class and Grade Information: In order to receive timely messages about class activities, and have access to your grades, please make sure that your accurate current e-mail address has been entered at URSA for this course.
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Lectures
Wk./ Lect. 1/1 1/2 Date Sept 26 Sept 28 Lecture Reading 1-21 24-26 Reading B&K Chpt. 2 B&K C. 23, 498-502

Overview, What is science? Earths Atmosphere: Formation, Composition, Structure, & Properties

2/3
2/4

Oct 3
Oct 5

Air Pollution: Historical Perspective and 27-42 Overview Temperature structure of the 43-54 atmosphere Formation of ozone and ozone in LA
55-72

B&K C. 24, 525-534, 538-544

RC 03 RC 01, http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/ media/files/RC03.pdf RC F08 RC 04 http://www.ioe.ucla.edu/ media/files/RC04.pdf pgs 1221 B&K C. 24 544-550

3/5

Oct 10

3/6

Oct 12

Particulate matter, health and cleaning up the air Particulate matter and visibility Indoor Air Quality Review
Midterm Exam

73-82

4/7

Oct 17

83-89

4/8
5/9 5/-

Oct 19
Oct 24 Oct 26

91-107

B&K C. 25 565-580

Lectures
Wk./ Lect. 6/10 6/11 Date Oct 31 Nov 2 Lecture Acid Rain and Fog The Ozone Layer: a Tale of Redemption Reading 109-111 113-125, 127 Reading B&K C. 24 pgs 535-537 B&K 550-560; EoE Dobson Unit

7/12
7/13 8/14 8/15

Nov 7
Nov 9 Nov 14 Nov 16

Climate Change
Climate Change: The Impacts Climate Change Sources Climate Change Policy & Solutions

129-146
147-168 168-175 177-188

B&K C. 23 494-515
B&K C. 23 516-522

B&K C. 23 521-523 pewclimate.org Cap and Trade pewclimate.org Technological Solutions B&K C. 19 391-408

9/16 9/17 10/18 10/19

Nov 21 Nov 23 Nov 28 Nov 30

Solutions to Climate Change Alternative Energy Alternative Energy Summary and Wrap Up

189-196 197-214

The Final Exam is Dec 5, Monday, 11:30 AM 2:30 PM 10

Please talk to me after class if you:

Took the Environment 1 Cluster Took Env. Sci. 10 Are an AOS major

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Know your Professor

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Know your Professor

(cute kid pics)

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Lecture 1: What is Science?

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What is science?
Science is a particular way of thinking about the world
Scientific method Open to disproof Hypothesis creation and testing Inductive reasoning: observations to generalizations (deductive reasoning is generalizations expected results)
formalized by Francis Bacon in 1620

Other ways of thinking about the world: Aesthetic Moral Religious Cultural Based on personal choices, faith, beliefs, or values15

Scientific method
Repeat and get same results * Repeated by different scientist* and get same results Establish a consensus that is widely accepted
NO

Observations of nature Serendipity, Intuition

Context: current theories

Inferences

Formulate Hypothesis

Design Tests

Data collection

Reject hypothesis?

YES

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What is a hypothesis?
A testable Idea. Commonly if, then
Example: If I add fertilizer to plant A and none to B, then A will grow faster. Dependent variable = growth rate A ? Independent variable = fertilizer Well designed experiment control the variables: Did plant A get more light/water? Was the soil the same?

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Hypotheses and Theories

Hypothesis: An educated guess
Can be disproven but not proven Usually fairly narrow in scope

Theory: model that offers a broad, fundamental explanation of many observations

Usually based on a collection of tested hypotheses deals with how and/or why something happens not just conjecture, rather a great achievement 18

Models, Laws, Facts and Truth

Model: Collection of many inferences to explain the observations
In environmental and other complex sciences, it is almost always computer based Result of a collection of theories and scientific inferences (ideas that are not necessarily so well vetted that they qualify as theories)

Law: simple empirical statement that summarizes things as they are and allows you to predict
Laws allow you to predict what will happen; they do not explain why ex: gravitational laws

Fact: The underlying observations and experimental data, etc. are facts. Additionally, inferences and theories that have stood up to a tremendous amount of testing are frequently referred to as facts. Truth: The observations are true. Scientific ideas cannot be proven by deductive reasoning.

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When is a theory accepted in science?

Thomas Kuhn (1922 1996)
1962 - Published The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Science progresses through paradigm shifts Theories and inferences large and small progress in fits and starts.
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Example: Does the earth revolve around the sun?

Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543)
Celestial observations

1530 published his ideas

earth rotated on its axis once daily earth traveled around sun once yearly

Conflicted with Ptolomys (ca. 85-170) and biblical interpretation: earth is 21 center of universe

more evidence
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Invented telescope - 1609

Writes Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems confirming Copernican theory 1630 After initially supporting the book, Pope Urban VIII and the inquisition force Galileo to renounce his book, and he is held under house arrest for 22 the remainder of his life.

heliocentric theory accepted

Other astronomers agreed: Bruno, Kepler, Brahe
Scientific consensus reached by 1700, 170 years after theory first published Book by Copernicus was removed from Roman Catholic Churchs list of forbidden books in 1835 Condemnation of Galileo recanted by Pope John Paul II in 1992
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Science is a process
Scientific theories are based on consensus built among scientists Continuous refinement of understanding rather than definitive proof We do not assume we know all there is to know
Scientists is adversarialthe scientific community practices self-policing

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Uncertainty
There will always be a level of uncertainty
Instruments cannot make perfect measurements. Until all of the important variables are understood, they cannot be controlled for. Nature contains real variability.

Uncertainty is difficult for people to process.

Generally people discount uncertainty Uncertainty is sometimes used to discount scientific conclusions.

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What is environmental science?

Extremely broad discipline that tries to explain:
How life on earth is sustained What leads to environmental problems How those problems can be solved

Combines several disciplines including:

Physical and Life Sciences Biology Chemistry Physics Geography Social science Policy Law Economics Sociology
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Young discipline initiated in late 1960s

Environmental science is hard

Nature is complicated Range of scales is often enormous
time space

Difficult or impossible to conduct controlled experiments

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Another Goal of this Course

critical thinking! How to evaluate different types of information from different sources? Especially important with internet information
Are there differences in credibility? CNN.com Fox.com realclimate.org conspiracyplanet.com whitehouse.gov greenpeace.org sciencemag.org Wikipedia.com American Petroleum Institute.com
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Science and Fringe Science

Beyond the Fringe

Beyond the Fringe

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