A363 │ ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

MODULE 3
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING
I. INTRODUCTION
Air is the invisible gaseous substance surrounding the earth, it is a mixture of gases on
earth. A mixture mainly of oxygen and nitrogen.
• Atmosphere – The thick blanket of air surrounding the earth’s surfaces.
• Wind – is moving air.
THE COMPOSITION OF AIR
Air contains mainly oxygen, nitrogen and the remaining includes carbon dioxide, noble
gas, water vapor, dust particles, and traces of other gases.

Figure 1. Composition of Air

• Oxygen – air contains about 28% of this element. Oxygen in the air supports burning.
• Nitrogen – air contains about 78% of this element.
• Carbon Dioxide – about 0.003%. Plants and animals take in oxygen and give out carbon
dioxide during respiration. Carbon dioxide is also produced during burning.
• Water Vapor – The gas state of water. Air contains varying amounts of water vapor
depending on the weather of a place. When the sun heats the water in oceans and
seas. The water evaporates.
NOTABLE FEATURES OF AIR
• Air isn’t just gas. While air is mostly gas, it also holds lots of tiny particles. These particles in
the air are called aerosols. Some aerosols like dust and pollen are picked up naturally
when the wind blows. But the air can also carry soot, smoke, and other particles from car
exhaust and power plants. These are major contributors to air pollution.
• Carbon dioxide in the air can be both good and bad. When humans and animals
breathe, we give off an odorless gas called carbon dioxide, or CO2. Plants use this gas,

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along with sunlight, to make food and oxygen too, this process is called photosynthesis.
However, large amounts of CO2 are produced when cars and power plants burn coal,
oil, and gasoline. This is bad because CO2 is the most important contributor to human
caused global warming.
• The air changes as you go up. Air seems light, but there is a lot of it pushing down on
Earth’s surface. This is called air pressure. You experience high air pressure at sea level
because the whole atmosphere is pushing down on you while air pressure is low on top
of a mountain because there is less air pressure pushing down on you.
• Air is a protective cushion. The air in our atmosphere acts as insulation, keeping the Earth
from getting too cold or too hot. Ozone, another type of gas in the air, also protects us
from too much sunlight. Air in the atmosphere can also protect us from meteoroids. When
meteoroids contact our atmosphere, they rub against the air and oftentimes are burned
into small pieces before reaching Earth.
AIR POLLUTION SYSTEM

Figure 2. Air Pollution Management System

Emissions – The production and discharge of something, especially gas or radiation.

• Anthropogenic Emission – Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), precursors of GHGs
and aerosols caused by human activities. These activities include the burning of fossil
fuels, deforestation, land use and land-use changes (LULUC), livestock production,
fertilization, waste management and industrial processes.
• Natural Emission – consider not only the emissions of NMVOCs (non-methane volatile
organic compounds), but also the emissions from soils, oceans, and volcanoes.
ATMOSPHERIC STRUCTURE
Layers of Earth’s Atmosphere have a series of layers, each with its own specific
traits. Moving upward from ground level, these layers are named the troposphere,
stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere. The exosphere gradually fades
away into the realm of interplanetary space.
• Troposphere – is the lowest layer of our atmosphere. Starting at ground level, it extends
upward to about 10 km (6.2 miles or about 33,000 feet) above sea level. We humans live
in the troposphere, and nearly all weather occurs in this lowest layer. Most clouds appear
here, mainly because 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere is found in the
troposphere.

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• Stratosphere – The next layer up is called the stratosphere. The stratosphere extends from
the top of the troposphere to about 50 km (31 miles) above the ground. The infamous
ozone layer is found within the stratosphere. Unlike the troposphere, the stratosphere gets
warmer the higher you go.
• Mesosphere – Above the stratosphere is the mesosphere. It extends upward to a height
of about 85 km (53 miles) above our planet. Most meteors burn up in the mesosphere.
Unlike the stratosphere, temperatures once again grow colder as you rise through the
mesosphere.
• Thermosphere – The layer of very rare air above the mesosphere is called the
thermosphere. High-energy X-rays and UV radiation from the Sun are absorbed in the
thermosphere, raising its temperature to hundreds or at times thousands of degrees.
• Exosphere – Air in the exosphere is constantly though very gradually "leaking" out of
Earth's atmosphere into outer space.
II. AIR POLLUTION STANDARDS
Initial efforts on the part of the U.S. Congress to address the nation’s air pollution
problem began with the passage of the Air Pollution Control Act of 1955. Although it
provided funding only for research and not control, it was an important milestone
because it opened the door to federal participation in efforts to deal with air pollution.
The 1970 Clean Air Act (CAA) required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
to investigate and describe the environmental effects of any air pollutant emitted by
stationary or mobile sources that may adversely affect human health or the environment.
The EPA used these studies to establish the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS).
Clean Air Act (CAA) - the law that defines EPA's responsibilities for protecting and
improving the nation's air quality and the stratospheric ozone layer.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) - agency of the U.S. government that sets and
enforces national pollution-control standards.
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) – Standards set by EPA to protect public
health and welfare from six principal pollutants.
• Primary Standards – are required to be set at levels that will protect public health
and include an “adequate margin of safety,” regardless of whether the standards
are economically or technologically achievable.
• Secondary Standards – are designed to be protective of public welfare, including
protection against environmental, cultural, and property damage.
CLEAN AIR ACT 1977 AMENDMENTS
The goal of the 1970 Amendments was to attain clean air by 1975, as defined by
the NAAQS, with allowable extensions in certain circumstances until 1977. For several
reasons, only about one-third of the air quality control regions in the nation were meeting
the standards by 1977. The 1977 Amendments had to deal with two important questions.
First, what measures should be taken in nonattainment areas that were not meeting the
standards? Second, should air quality in regions where the air is cleaner than the
standards be allowed to degrade toward the standards, and if so, by how much?

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• Emission Offsets - a major new source of pollution in a nonattainment area must

first find ways to reduce emissions from existing sources. The reductions, or offsets,
must exceed the anticipated emissions from the new source.
• Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (LAER) - new sources in nonattainment areas
must use emission controls that yield the Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (LAER)
for the process. LAER technology is based on the most stringent emission rate
achieved in practice by similar sources, regardless of the economic cost or energy
impacts.
• Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) - In addition to improving air quality in
areas throughout the country, the Clean Air Act addresses the need to allow
growth while maintaining clean air in areas that are already clean. PSD
accomplishes this by limiting emissions of air pollutants so that significant
deterioration of air quality will not occur.
o PSD Increment - the amount of pollution an area is allowed to increase or
the maximum allowable increase in concentration that is allowed to occur
above a baseline concentration for a pollutant.
• Best Available Control Technology (BACT) - required on major new sources and is
less stringent than LAER, as it does allow consideration of economic, energy, and
environmental impacts of the technology.
ACID RAIN PROGRAM
Acid deposition results from emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) that convert to sulfuric
acid and nitrogen oxides (NOx) that become nitric acid when mixed with water. The Acid
Rain Program is a cap-and-trade system based on a more flexible allowance system,
where one allowance authorizes the owner to emit one ton of SO2. Large coal-fired
power plants are not allowed to emit any more tons than the number of allowances they
own, or they will be subjected to an excess emissions penalty.
The idea is that major sources will find the least-expensive ways to cut their
emissions and then sell some of their allowances to others who can’t reduce their
emissions as cheaply. The goal is a least-cost emission limitation that allows sources the
flexibility they need to make the most cost-effective choices. By ratcheting down the
number of allowances that the EPA issues each year, the cap placed on total emission is
intended to result in a 50 percent reduction in SO2 emissions from 1980 levels by 2010.

Figure 3. NAAQS Table

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AIR QUALITY INDEX

The air quality index (AQI) provides an easy-to-understand way to relate the daily
air pollution concentrations of criteria air pollutants measured in a particular geographic
area to concentrations of air pollutants.

Figure 4. Air Quality Index

III. SIX CRITERIA AIR POLLUTANTS

• Primary Pollutants – Pollutants that are released directly from a source to the
atmosphere.
• Secondary Pollutants – Pollutants that are formed in the atmosphere as a product
of the chemical reaction between two or more pollutants in the air.

1. Particulate Matter – is a complex mixture of small solid particles and liquid droplets
in the air like dust or dirt.
a. Inhalable Coarse Particles (PM10) – Less than 10 microns in diameter but
greater than 2.5 microns in diameter, about one-seventh the width of a
human hair.
b. Fine Particles (PM2.5) – Less than 2.5 microns in diameter. Fine particulate
matter is so small that it can only be seen through an electron microscope.
i. Sources
o Fuel combustion - Burning coal, wood, or diesel.
o Industrial processes – Factories that release smoke.
o Agriculture – When farmers plow their fields, some of the soil
or dust particles get entrained or picked up by the wind.
o Emissions from unpaved roads – When they are traversed,
naturally, the dust suspended in the air is carried by the wind
as particulate matter.
ii. Health Effects
o Lung inflammation
o Worsening asthma symptoms
o Reduction in lung function
2. Carbon Monoxide (CO)
i. Sources
o Incomplete combustion – There is insufficient oxygen to allow
the fuel to burn and produce water and carbon dioxide.

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ii. Health Effects

o Fatigue, headaches, confusion, and dizziness.
o Chest pain and decreased exercise tolerance.
o Adverse developmental effects.
3. Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
i. Sources
o These gases form when fuel is burned at high temperatures.
The nitrogen gas N2 reacts with the oxygen in the air O2 to
form Nitrogen Oxides NOx.
ii. Health Effects
o Aggravates lung diseases.
o Continued exposure may produce an abnormal
accumulation of fluid in the lung (pulmonary edema).
o Decreases the defenses of lungs from bacteria and it
increases the susceptibility to respiratory infection.
4. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
i. Sources
o Burning of fossil fuels by power plants and other industrial
facilities.
o Volcanic eruptions
ii. Health Effects
o Suffocating due to strong odor, like a just struck match.
o Irritates the respiratory system, causing inflammation and
tightening of airways leading to difficulty of breathing.
o Decrease in lung capacity.
5. Ozone (O3)
i. Sources
o Formed by the reaction of NO2 with VOCs and Oxygen in the
presence of sunlight.
ii. Health Effects
o Chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion.
o Inflame and damage the airways.
o May permanently scar tissue.
6. Lead (Pb)
i. Sources
o Past use of Leaded gasoline.
o Ore and metals processing, particularly lead smelters.
o Piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded aviation gasoline.
o Waste incinerators, utilities.
o Lead-acid battery manufacturers.
ii. Health Effects
o In children, Damages the developing nervous system,
resulting in IQ loss and impacts on learning, memory, and
mental retardation.
o May result in behavioral problems, reduced intelligence,
anemia, and liver or kidney damage.
o Reproductive problems in men and women.

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MAJOR SOURCES OF AIR POLLUTANTS

1. Stationary Fuel Combustion - Electric utilities, industrial boilers, industrial processes.

2. Stationary Industrial Processes - Metal smelters, petroleum refineries, cement kilns,
manufacturing facilities, solvent utilization.
3. Mobile sources - Highway vehicles, recreational vehicles, construction equipment,
marine vessels, aircraft.

EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTANTS

1. Effects on Materials – Mechanisms of deterioration.

o Abrasion - Solid particles with large enough size traveling at speeds can
cause abrasion.
o Deposition and Removal - Liquid and solid particles are deposited on
various structures and surfaces. However, they don't necessarily cause
damage; they just make things look unattractive.
o Direct chemical attack - Example: Sulfuric acid or SO2 and SO3 react with
limestone, CaCO3, to produce calcium sulfate (CaSO4) and gypsum
(CaSO4 2H2O), which are more soluble in water and are washed away
during rainfall.
o Indirect chemical attack - occurs when pollutants are absorbed and then
react with some component of the absorbent to form a destructive
compound.
Factors that influence Deterioration
1. Moisture - humidities above 70–90% will promote corrosion without
air pollutants.
2. Temperature - Higher air temperatures generally result in higher
reaction rates.
3. Sunlight - In addition to the oxidation effect of its ultraviolet wave
lengths, sunlight stimulates air pollution damage by providing the
energy for pollutant formation and cyclic reformation.
2. Effects on Vegetation
o Pollutant Damage - The net result of air pollutant damage goes beyond the
apparent superficial damage to the leaves. A reduction in surface area
results in less growth and small fruit.
o Problems of Diagnosis - Droughts, insects, diseases, herbicide overdoses,
and nutrient deficiencies all can cause injury that resembles air pollution
damage making it difficult to trace the true cause of damage.

SOURCES OF INDOOR AIR POLLUTION

1. Combustion - Burning oil, gas, kerosene, coal, wood. Tobacco products releases
PM, CO and hazardous.
2. Outdoor sources – Pollutants from outside or dust from shoes.
3. Household Products - VOCs, hazardous pollutants, fragrances from cleaners,
printer inks.
4. Household inhabitants - allergens (dust mites, mold, pollen) from pets. Protein that
is found in the pet's dander (dead skin cells) saliva, and urine. The hair, fur, or

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feathers collect the dander. It can also carry other allergens like dust mites, mold,
and pollen.

METHODS TO CONTROL INDOOR AIR POLLUTION

1. Source Control - eliminates source of pollutants.

2. Ventilation Improvements – placing operating ceiling, attic fans, as well as
functional windows and well-designed chimneys.
3. Air cleaners - Less effective, it doesn’t work well for fine particulate matter and gas
pollutants.
IV. AMBIENT EMISSIONS
Ambient emission refers to the release of pollutants into the surrounding
atmosphere from various sources, such as industrial facilities, vehicles, agricultural
operations, and natural processes. These emissions contribute to the overall ambient air
pollution levels in each area.
4 MAJOR SOURCES OF ANTHROPOGENIC AIR EMISSION
1. Point Sources - Pollutants that are emitted from the stacks, such as a chimney,
smokestack, vent, or exhaust pipe.
2. Area Sources - Area sources refer to dispersed or diffuse sources that emit
pollutants over a relatively broad area rather than from a single point.
3. Mobile Sources - Sources that move from one location to another and emit
pollutants while in operation.
4. Fugitive Emissions - Unintended releases of pollutants or hazardous substances
from industrial processes, equipment, or facilities that are not captured by control
devices or systems.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION
When there's too much traffic and cars are stuck in congestion, engines keep
running and burning fuel without moving much. This continuous running releases more
pollutants into the air, like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. These pollutants can
make the air dirtier and harm our health, especially in busy cities where lots of cars are
on the road. So, traffic congestion can worsen air pollution because vehicles are stuck
and keep emitting harmful gases.
DETAILS ON HOW TRAFFIC CONGESTION IMPACTS AIR POLLUTION
1. Increased Emissions - Traffic congestion leads to an increase in emissions because
vehicles are often stuck in traffic jams, idling their engines for longer periods.
2. Exposure to Harmful Pollutants - People stuck in traffic are exposed to elevated
levels of pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter,
which can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause respiratory problems.
3. Social and Economic Costs - Traffic congestion imposes significant socioeconomic
costs by increasing travel time, fuel consumption, and vehicle wear and tear,
leading to productivity losses and higher transportation expenses for individuals
and businesses.

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TRANSPORTATION DESIGN MANAGEMENT

Transportation design management for traffic congestion involves implementing

strategies and infrastructure improvements to optimize traffic flow, reduce congestion,
and enhance mobility.

• Park-and-ride facilities are transportation hubs where commuters can park their
vehicles, typically cars, and then transfer to public transportation, such as buses,
trains, or carpools, to complete their journey to their destination.
• High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, also known as carpool lanes or diamond
lanes, are special lanes on highways or roads reserved for vehicles with multiple
occupants, typically two or more people. Designed to encourage carpooling and
the use of shared transportation by providing faster and more reliable travel times
for vehicles carrying more passengers.
• Bicycle and pedestrian projects/programs refer to initiatives aimed at improving
infrastructure, safety, and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians in communities.
• Improve Transit Service involves enhancing public transportation systems to
provide more efficient, reliable, and accessible services to passengers.
• Fuel pricing strategies for traffic congestion involve adjusting fuel prices based on
the level of traffic congestion. During peak hours when traffic is heavy, fuel prices
may increase to discourage driving and encourage the use of alternative
transportation options like public transit or carpooling.
• Expanded bus or rail services mean adding more buses or trains and improving
their schedules to make public transportation more convenient and accessible for
people.
• Vehicle miles traveled-based pricing during vehicle registration, it involves
charging drivers a fee based on the total miles they expect to drive within a
specified period, such as a year, aiming to reduce traffic congestion by
encouraging more efficient use of roadways and alternative transportation
options.
V. STATIONARY SOURCES
Contrary to the mobile sources like cars and such, these ones are the immovable
sources of emissions like factories.
• Evaporation of Volatile Organic Substances
• Grinding
• Forest Fires
• Combustion
Non-transportation fossil fuel combustion is responsible for 90% Sulfur Oxide and
Almost half of Nitrogen Oxide and PM10 in United States. Most of that is released in
electric power plants, and most of the emissions of powerplants are caused by coal
power plants, main contributor. Since most air pollutants are produced during
combustion, one of the most important but most overlooked approaches to reduce
emissions is to simply reduce the consumption of fossil fuels itself.

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Three Broad Approaches That Can Be Taken

1. Increase the conversion efficiency.
2. Increase the efficiency of energy.
3. Substitute other less polluting energy sources.
POWERPLANTS
1. Electric Power Plants - Uses combustion to turn fossil fuel to energy. Responsible for
90% Sulfur Oxide and almost half of Nitrogen Oxide and 𝑃𝑀10.
2. Coal Fired Power Plant – Main contributor of emissions amongst electric power
plants. Generates over half of the electricity on the United States. There are two
types of pre combustion control on coal plants:
o Fuel Switching – substitute low sulfur coal with high sulfur content or blended
to reduce Sulfur Oxide Emissions from 20% to 90% depending on sulfur
content. Temporary measures used when atmospheric conditions are
particularly adverse.
o Coal Cleaning – process by which impurities such as sulfur, ash and rock are
removed from coal to upgrade its value. Coal cleaning processes are
categorized as either physical cleaning or chemical cleaning.
Combustion Control Technologies
1. Fluidized-Bed Combustion (FBC) – one of the most promising clean coal
technologies. In an FBC boiler, crushed coal mixed with limestone is held in
suspension (fluidized) by fast-rising air injected from the bottom of the bed. Sulfur
oxides formed during combustion react with the limestone to form solid calcium
sulfate which falls to the bottom of the furnace and is removed.
2. Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle - offers the combination of increased
combustion efficiency with reduced emissions. First stage, a coal-water slurry is
brought into contact with steam to form a fuel gas or syngas, consisting mostly of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The syngas is cleaned up, removing most of the
particulates, mercury and sulfur and then burned in a high-efficiency gas turbine
that spins a generator. The air separation unit provides N2 to cool the gas turbine
and O2 to increase syngas combustion efficiency. Waste heat from the gas
turbine runs a conventional steam cycle, generating more electricity. Despite
energy losses in the gasification process, the combination of gas turbine and
steam turbine offsets those losses, and the overall efficiency of fuel to electricity
can approach 45 percent.
o Syngas – short for Synthesis Gas, is a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and
hydrogen (𝐻2) that is used as a fuel gas but is produced from a wide range
of carbonaceous feedstocks and is used to produce a wide range of
chemicals.
3. Flue Gas Desulfurization (Scrubbers) – FSD technologies can be categorized as
being either wet or dry depending on the phase in which the main reactions
occur, and either throw-away or regenerative depending on whether the sulfur
from the glue gas is discarded or recovered into useable form.
o Wet scrubbers - finely pulverized limestone is mixed with water to create a
slurry that is sprayed into the flue gases.

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o Dry Scrubbers – pollution control devices that remove pollutants from

exhaust gases without using a liquid medium.

Post-Combustion Control Technologies

1. Cyclone Collectors – For relatively large particles, the most used control device is
the centrifugal, or cyclone, collector. Particle heavy gas enters tangentially near
the top of the cyclone, and spins in the cylindrical shell causing the particles to
collide with the outer walls in which gravity causes them to slide down into a
hopper at the bottom.
2. Electrostatic Precipitators – for very small particles. Consists of vertical wires placed
between parallel collector plates. Plates are grounded and wires are charged up
to a very high negative voltage at around 100k Volts. The intense electric field
created near the wires causes a corona discharge, ionizing gas molecules in the
air stream. The negative ions and free electrons thus created move toward the
grounded plates, and along the way, some attach themselves to passive
particulate matter.
3. Baghouses – Major competition that electrostatic precipitators have for efficient
collection of small particles is fabric filtration. Dust-bearing gases are passed
through fabric filter bags, which are suspended upside down in a large chamber,
called baghouse. A baghouse may contain thousands of bags which are often
distributed among several compartments. This allows individual compartments to
be cleaned while others remain in operation.

VI. WASTE MINIMIZATION

The best and first step in any air pollution control strategy should be to minimize
the production of pollutants in the first place. Because a large proportion of air pollutants
results from the combustion of fossil fuels, an obvious approach to waste minimization is
to conserve energy.

• The Montreal Protocol – finalized in 1987, a global agreement to protect the

stratospheric ozone layer by phasing out the production and consumption of
ozone-depleting substances (ODS). Substances that were commonly used in
products such as refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers, and aerosols.

ALTERNATIVE FUELS

1. Ethanol – also known as grain alcohol used as oxygenate to reduce CO emissions,

in which case the gasoline/ethanol mixture is usually referred to as gasohol.
Ethanol can be blended with gasoline with a range of mixture ratios.
2. Methanol – also known as wood alcohol, has long been the fuel of choice in high
performance racing cars. It burns with a lower flame temperature than does either
gasoline or diesel fuel, so emissions are reduced.
3. Biodiesel - can be created from vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled restaurant
greases. It is a biodegradable, domestic, renewable energy fuel that has the
potential to help reduce the need for petroleum-based transportation fuels as well
as helping farmers by providing a market for excess soybean oil.

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4. Compressed Natural Gas - This is already used in fleets of trucks, delivery vans, and
buses, especially in Canada and New Zealand. CNG is a very clean fuel, and very
low emissions of reactive hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, particulates, and
toxins are possible. emissions can be higher than gasoline-fueled vehicles, but only
because earlier emission-control systems were not as well developed as those
designed for gasoline.
5. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) - LPG (propane) is another fuel that has been used
for vehicle fleets such as school buses, trucks, forklifts, taxis, and farm vehicles.
Some vehicles have been designed with dual tanks so that either gasoline or LPG
can be burned, but the added flexibility of fuel sources is offset somewhat by the
added space, weight, and complication of such systems.
VII. FLOW FUNDAMENTALS
Air masses are large, homogeneous bodies of air with uniform temperature and
humidity that extend upward for thousands of meters and cover hundreds of thousands
of kilometers. They originate in specific regions, impacting their temperature and
humidity, as well as the air pollutants they carry.
Air Parcel - An imaginary volume of air to which may be assigned any or all the basic
dynamic and thermodynamic properties of atmospheric air. A parcel is large enough to
contain a very great number of molecules, but small enough so that the properties
assigned to it are approximately uniform within it and so that its motions with respect to
the surrounding atmosphere do not induce marked compensatory movements.
Diabatic Process - The heating or cooling of a parcel of air due to a heat exchange.
Adiabatic Process - A thermodynamic process which involves the transfer of energy
without transfer of heat or mass to the surrounding.
Dry Adiabatic Lapse Rate - The rate at which the temperature of a parcel of dry air
decreases as the parcel is lifted in the atmosphere.
Environmental Lapse Rate - The rate at which the air temperature changes with height in
the atmosphere surrounding a cloud or a rising parcel of air.
Air Mass – Different types of air are called air masses. Air masses are given a two-part
name that describes the humidity and temperature characteristics of the region where
they form. The first part of an air mass’ name describes its humidity. Air masses that form
over the ocean, called maritime air masses, are more humid than those that form over
land, called continental air masses.
Six Types of Air Masses
1. Maritime tropical – moist and warm
2. Maritime equatorial - moist and hot
3. Maritime polar - moist and cold
4. Continental tropical – dry and warm
5. Continental polar - dry and cold
6. Continental arctic - dry and freezing

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Wind Trajectory is the path of the air parcels/wind in the atmosphere while Wind
Speed is the velocity at which air moves.
CORIOLIS EFFECT
Once air has been set in motion by the pressure gradient force, it undergoes an
apparent deflection from its path, as seen by an observer on the earth. This apparent
deflection is called the "Coriolis force" and is a result of the earth's rotation. As air moves
from high to low pressure in the northern hemisphere, it is deflected to the right by the
Coriolis force.

Figure 5. Coriolis Effect

ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY
The tendency of the atmosphere to resist or enhance vertical motion is termed
stability. It is related to both wind speed and the change of air temperature with height
(lapse rate).
• Neutral condition - Exists in unsaturated air when the environmental lapse rate
equals the dry adiabatic lapse rate.
• Unstable condition - The atmosphere is considered unstable when it facilitates
continuous upward movement of air masses. In an unstable atmosphere, an
ascending parcel of air remains warmer than the surrounding air, which
encourages it to rise further.
• Stable Condition - The atmosphere is stable when an ascending parcel of air
becomes cooler than the surrounding air, causing it to stop rising. This limits the
growth of clouds and, consequently, the occurrence of precipitation.
FACTORS AFFECTING ATMOSPHERIC STABILITY
1. Temperature - The temperature difference between the surface and the
environment at some altitude.
2. Moisture Content - The amount of water vapor in the air affects its density and
stability.
3. Geography - The shape of the land or water bodies can affect wind patterns and
atmospheric stability.
4. Season - The time of year can influence atmospheric stability due to variations in

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solar radiation and land surface conditions.

TEMPERATURE INVERSION

Refers to a reversal of the normal temperature lapse rate in the atmosphere,

where air temperature increases with elevation. Normally, as one ascends through the
atmosphere, temperatures decrease. However, during a temperature inversion, the
opposite occurs.

PLUMES

Columns of gas, such as those emitted from volcanic eruptions or industrial

discharges, that rise into the atmosphere.

TYPES OF PLUMES

1. Looping - It takes place when the atmosphere is very unstable, wind speed is
greater than 10 ms-1, has super-adiabatic lapse rate and is accompanied with
solar heating. It follows a wave-like pattern and provides a high degree of mixing
at lower levels, sometimes reaching the ground.
2. Fumigation - It occurs when a plume reaches the ground level along the length of
the plume and is caused by a super-adiabatic lapse rate beneath an inversion.
The super-adiabatic lapse rate at the ground level occurs due to the solar heating
and is quite undesirable since the pollutants remain at ground level. This condition
is favored by clear skies and light winds.
3. Coning - It results when the vertical air temperature gradient occurs between dry
adiabatic and isothermal, the air being slightly unstable with some horizontal and
vertical mixing occurring. Coning is most likely to occur during cloudy or windy
periods.
4. Fanning - They spread out horizontally but do not mix vertically. Fanning plumes
take place when inversion condition exists in atmosphere, that is, the air
temperature increases with altitude. The plume rarely reaches ground level unless
the inversion is broken by surface heating or a topographical barrier such as a hill.
5. Lofting - It diffuses upward but not downwards and occurs when there is a super
adiabatic layer above a surface inversion. A lofting plume will generally not reach
the ground surface, so there is less pollution at ground level.
6. Trapping - This condition is accompanied by weak lapse below inversion aloft.
7. Neutral - a type of plume that has minimal buoyancy effects and remains relatively
stable as it disperses in the atmosphere.

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