date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 15:27:38 -0000 from: "dawn barrett (IFR)" subject: Society of Chemistry lecture, 20th November 2002 to: "'nrpscience@nrp.org.uk'" Society of Chemistry lecture, Assembly House 20th November 2002 Title:Chemistry and Weather Speaker:Peter Brimblecombe Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, The atmosphere is in the news! Atmospheric chemistry, climate and weather have become a matter of public concern over the last two decades. While the complexities of modern science don't usually spark off great political and social debate, heads of state have been forced to meetings in Stockholm, Montreal, Kyoto and Johannesburg and given their attention to the fate of our atmosphere. Television, which normally relegates scientific matters to off-peak hours, has shown skilfully created colourful images from remotely sensed measurements of the ozone (O3) hole and huge emissions from forest fires of 1997 that have continued to raise concern into the current century. What has caused this interest in the atmosphere? This lecture will look at the way in which chemistry interacts with climate and weather. It will touch on the enormous changes in the nature of air pollution over the last century and the ways in which this has made it necessary to be more imaginative about our management of urban air quality. We will question where acid rain has gone and look at the regional problems of forest fires in S.E.Asia or the dark clouds over China. Global chemistry has the potential to control temperature and rainfall through mechanisms popularly known as the Gaia Hypothesis. Higher up in the atmosphere carbon dioxide, methane and chlorine compounds are involved in the greenhouse effect and the ozone hole. Sometimes a simple chemical reaction can take on global dimensions. Further information: s.lancaster@uea.ac.uk Yours ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dawn Barrett AInstAM(Dip), AMIPR Communications Officer Institute of Food Research Norwich Research Park Colney Norwich NR4 7UA UK Tel: +44 (0) 1603 255328 Fax: +44 (0) 1603 255168 e-mail: dawn.barrett@bbsrc.ac.uk web address: www.ifr.bbsrc.ac.uk