THE CHEMISTRY OF THE ATMOSPHERE AND ITS PERTURBATIONS THROUGH HUMAN ACTIVITIES

The chemistry of the atmosphere results from a complex series of react ions that involve many atmospheric trace gases and that are initiated through sunlight absorption by ozone, formaldehyde and other trace gas es. Within the troposphere, this chemistry forms ozone and many highly reactive intermediates and molecules including acids, peroxides, and other undesirable products. However, in contrast, stratospheric chemis try leads to the destruction of natural stratospheric ozone, our prote ctive shield from short ultraviolet radiation at the earth's surface. This results when halocarbons, relatively innocuous, unreactive compou nds in the troposphere, are released at the surface of the earth and a re ultimately transported to the stratosphere. Here sunlight dissociat es them into highly reactive molecular fragments that start a chain of chemical events which destroy stratospheric ozone. Atmospheric scient ists, industrial and academic scientists and engineers of other discip lines, as well as the general public, are becoming more aware of the i mportance of understanding the changes which are occurring in the atmo sphere as a result of human activities. We are all interested in minim izing the occurrence of surprises such as the 'ozone hole,' forest dam age, etc. The leaders of our countries require advice in designing sci entifically sound yet economically realistic solutions to the many pro blems which result from the anthropogenic perturbations that we induce on our natural system. Clearly the knowledge of atmospheric chemistry as derived from both fundamental and applied chemical studies by scie ntists from many disciplines will form the basis for sound scientific solutions to these problems.