Name | Prof. em. Dr. Thomas Peter |
Field | Atmospheric Chemistry |
Address | Institut für Atmosphäre und Klima ETH Zürich, CHN O 12.1 Universitätstrasse 16 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND |
Telephone | +41 44 633 27 56 |
thomas.peter@env.ethz.ch | |
URL | https://iac.ethz.ch/group/atmospheric-chemistry.html |
Department | Environmental Systems Science |
Relationship | Professor emeritus |
Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
651-4095-01L | Colloquium Atmosphere and Climate 1 | 1 credit | 1K | H. Joos, C. Schär, D. N. Bresch, D. Domeisen, N. Gruber, R. Knutti, U. Lohmann, T. Peter, S. I. Seneviratne, K. Steffen, H. Wernli, M. Wild | |
Abstract | The colloquium is a series of scientific talks by prominent invited speakers assembling interested students and researchers from around Zürich. Students take part of the scientific discussions. | ||||
Objective | The colloquium is a series of scientific talks by prominent invited speakers assembling interested students and researchers from around Zürich. Students take part of the scientific discussions. | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | To acquire credit points for this colloquium, please visit the course's web page and sign up for one of the groups. | ||||
651-4095-02L | Colloquium Atmosphere and Climate 2 | 1 credit | 1K | H. Joos, C. Schär, D. N. Bresch, D. Domeisen, N. Gruber, R. Knutti, U. Lohmann, T. Peter, S. I. Seneviratne, K. Steffen, H. Wernli, M. Wild | |
Abstract | The colloquium is a series of scientific talks by prominent invited speakers assembling interested students and researchers from around Zürich. Students take part of the scientific discussions. | ||||
Objective | The colloquium is a series of scientific talks by prominent invited speakers assembling interested students and researchers from around Zürich. Students take part of the scientific discussions. | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | To acquire credit points for this colloquium, please visit the course's web page and sign up for one of the groups. | ||||
651-4095-03L | Colloquium Atmosphere and Climate 3 | 1 credit | 1K | H. Joos, C. Schär, D. N. Bresch, D. Domeisen, N. Gruber, R. Knutti, U. Lohmann, T. Peter, S. I. Seneviratne, K. Steffen, H. Wernli, M. Wild | |
Abstract | The colloquium is a series of scientific talks by prominent invited speakers assembling interested students and researchers from around Zürich. Students take part of the scientific discussions. | ||||
Objective | The colloquium is a series of scientific talks by prominent invited speakers assembling interested students and researchers from around Zürich. Students take part of the scientific discussions. | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | To acquire credit points for this colloquium, please visit the course's web page and sign up for one of the groups. | ||||
701-0023-AAL | Atmosphere Enrolment ONLY for MSc students with a decree declaring this course unit as an additional admission requirement. Any other students (e.g. incoming exchange students, doctoral students) CANNOT enrol for this course unit. | 3 credits | 6R | E. Fischer, T. Peter | |
Abstract | Basic principles of the atmosphere, physical structure and chemical composition, trace gases, atmospheric cycles, circulation, stability, radiation, condensation, clouds, oxidation capacity and ozone layer. | ||||
Objective | Understanding of basic physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere. Understanding of mechanisms of and interactions between: weather - climate, atmosphere - ocean - continents, troposhere - stratosphere. Understanding of environmentally relevant structures and processes on vastly differing scales. Basis for the modelling of complex interrelations in the atmospehre. | ||||
Content | Basic principles of the atmosphere, physical structure and chemical composition, trace gases, atmospheric cycles, circulation, stability, radiation, condensation, clouds, oxidation capacity and ozone layer. | ||||
701-0460-00L | Practical Training in Atmosphere and Climate Number of participants limited to 35. Priority is given to BSc Earth Sciences and Environmental Sciences until January 26th, 2018. The waiting list will be deleted after February 16th, 2018. | 7 credits | 14P | U. Krieger, M. Böttcher, T. Peter, A. Prévôt | |
Abstract | The field course offers the opportunity to carry out atmospheric physical and chemical experiments. Students can acquire knowledge in experimental, instrumental, numerical or theoretical aspects of atmospheric sciences. | ||||
Objective | The learning target is the successful execution of interdisciplinary field work within the atmospheric sciences. To this end the participants will become acquainted with modern sounding and analysis methods, will collect data and will evaluate these with respect to the state of the atmosphere and the relevant processes of interest. Interdisciplinary team work will be practiced across various scientific fields (physics, chemistry, atmospheric dynamics and transport). | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | Als Voraussetzung für dieses Praktikum werden Kenntnisse der folgenden Kurse benötigt: - 701-0471-00 Atmosphärenchemie - 701-0473-00 Wettersysteme - 251-0840-01 Anwendungsnahes Programmieren mit Matlab Teilnehmer, die diese Kurse nicht belegt haben, müssen sich die erforderlichen Kenntnisse im Eigenstudium aneignen. Als Begleitung zu diesem Praktikum wird der Besuch der folgenden Kurse sehr empfohlen: - 701-0234-00 Messmethoden in der Atmosphärenchemie - 701-1236-00 Messmethoden in der Meteorologie | ||||
701-1262-00L | Atmospheric Chemistry Lab Work | 2.5 credits | 5P | C. Marcolli, U. Krieger, T. Peter | |
Abstract | Experiments are carried out to investigate the freezing of water droplets and ice cloud formation. Water-in-oil emulsions are prepared and cooled in a DSC (differential scanning calorimeter). The measured freezing temperatures are put in context with cloud formation in the atmosphere. | ||||
Objective | This practical course offers the opportunity to get to know lab work on a topic of atmospheric importance. | ||||
Content | Cirrus clouds play an important role in the radiative budget of the Earth. Due to scattering and absorption of the solar as well as terrestrial radiation the cirrus cloud cover may influence significantly the Earth climate. How the cirrus clouds exactly form, is still unknown. Ice particles in cirrus clouds may form by homogeneous ice nucleation from liquid aerosols or via heterogeneous ice nucleation on solid ice nuclei (IN). The dihydrate of oxalic acid (OAD) acts as a heterogeneous ice nucleus, with an increase in freezing temperature between 2 and 5K depending on solution composition. In several field campaigns, oxalic acid enriched particles have been detected in the upper troposphere with single particle aerosol mass spectrometry. Simulations with a microphysical box model indicate that the presence of OAD may reduce the ice particle number density in cirrus clouds by up to ~50% when compared to exclusively homogeneous cirrus formation without OAD. The goal of this atmospheric chemistry lab work is to expand the knowledge about the influence of oxalic acid in different aqueous solution systems for the heterogeneous ice nucleation process. Experiments of emulsified aqueous solutions containing oxalic acid will be performed with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC, TA Instruments Q10). Water-in-oil emulsions contain a high number of micrometer-sized water droplets. Each droplet freezes independently which allows the measurement of homogeneous freezing for droplets without heterogeneous IN and heterogeneous freezing in the presence of an IN. OAD is formed in-situ in a first freezing cycle and will act as an IN in a second freezing cycle. This experiment will be performed in the presence of different solutes. In general, the presence of a solute leads to a decrease of the freezing temperature. However, also more specific interactions with oxalic acid are possible so that e.g. the formation of OAD is inhibited. In the atmospheric chemistry lab work experiments, emulsified aqueous oxalic acid solutions are prepared and investigated in the DSC during several freezing cycles. The onset of freezing is evaluated. Freezing onsets in the presence and absence of OAD are compared. This is done for pure oxalic acid solutions and oxalic acid solutions containing a second solute (e.g. another dicarboxylic acid). The quality of the emulsions is checked in an optical microscope. | ||||
Lecture notes | Hand-outs will be distributed during the course | ||||
Literature | Oxalic acid as a heterogeneous ice nucleus in the upper troposphere and its indirect aerosol effect, B. Zobrist C. Marcolli, T. Koop, B. P. Luo, D. M. Murphy, U. Lohmann, A. A. Zardini, U. K. Krieger, T. Corti, D. J. Cziczo, S. Fueglistaler, P. K. Hudson, D. S. Thomson, and T. Peter Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3115–3129, 2006. | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | This module may be attended by 8 students at most. Practical work is carried out in groups of 2, max. 3. |