Introductory Lecture Chemistry–climate coupling: the importance of chemistry in climate issues

Abstract

Chemistry plays an important role in determining the current state and the predictions of the future state of earth’s climate because a large number of agents that force earth’s climate are chemically active. Chemical processes in the atmosphere determine the abundances and properties of atmospheric forcing agents. This is particularly true for the species that need to be addressed for influencing the course of the earth’s climate in the near future. The factors that determine the chemical transformations and properties of chemically active climate forcing agents are discussed here. The levels of improvements needed in our understanding of chemical processes to reduce the uncertainties in the climate forcing are noted. The specific issues of night time chemistry, non-linear chemical processes, parameterization of atmospheric processes, spatial/temporal variability of chemical species, and the need for real world characterization of aerosols are discussed.