Greenhouse gases - Measures and instruments to mitigate climate change

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Emmanuel Mahieu

Language(s) of instruction

English language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The course is divided into a series of modules addressing the following topics :

CONTEXT

• Main greenhouse gases (GHG) and their absorptions in the infrared spectrum
• GHG atmospheric chemistry, sources, sinks and contribution to radiative forcing
• Global emissions, long-term time series of the GHG; past and present evolutions
• Tropospheric and stratospheric ozone, production, catalytic cycles involved and trends, including projections

• Measurement platforms: ground-based, air-borne and satellites
• In situ and remote-sensing techniques (brief introduction to molecular spectroscopy)
• Performance and complementarity of the various techniques and instrumentations
• Atmospheric watch and international networks involved
• Retrieval of the vertical distribution of a GHG from high-resolution infrared spectra

• The Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol
• The Kigali Amendment
• The Rio Convention and the Kyoto Protocol
• The Paris Agreement (COP21)

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of the course, the student will be able to:

• Review the main anthropogenic and natural GHGs, report about their respective contributions to radiative forcing, describe their past and present atmospheric burden
• Describe the aims and measures adopted by the international Protocols to limit GHG emissions
• Examine and evaluate a timeseries
• Discuss about the specificities and complementarities of the various platforms and techniques used for the measurement of GHGs in the Earth's atmosphere
• Using supporting documents, describe the atmospheric budget of a GHG (sources and sinks), a catalytic cycle, an atmospheric reaction pathway

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Basic concepts in physics and chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Series of 2-3 hour lectures.

 

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Blended learning


Further information:

Face-to-face course (broadcasting on Teams is however planned - Note however that technical problems can never be ruled out!)


Additional information:

Face-to-face lectures, whenever possible. In the event of the course holder's absence, a pre-recorded podcast will be made available.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Further information:

The students will be encouraged to read sections of international assessments (IPCC, WMO,...) as well as scientific papers bringing additional relevant information with respect to the course contents.

The written notes will consist in the lecture slides presented and discussed during the successive lectures. They will be supplemented by the podcasts.

 

 

Based on an oral exam.

Work placement(s)

N/A

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

The lectures will be organized during the 1st quadrimester (odd years), from week 1 to week 10 of the academic year

Contacts

Emmanuel Mahieu

Département d'Astrophysique, de Géophysique et d'Océanographie

Groupe InfraRouge de Physique Atmosphérique et Solaire (GIRPAS)

Building B5a, room 0/6

emmanuel.mahieu@uliege.be

http://www.girpas.uliege.be

T. +32 4 366 97 86

Association of one or more MOOCs