Environmental Photochemistry
Published in Richard A. Larson, Eric J. Weber, Reaction Mechanisms in Environmental Organic Chemistry, 2018
Richard A. Larson, Eric J. Weber
Changes in the frequency distribution and intensity of sunlight vary with time of day and season, of course, and also with elevation, ozone concentration, and presence or absence of clouds, smoke, and dust particles in the atmosphere. In theory, clouds should transmit UV radiation to a greater extent than visible light, but the actual relationship is complex and depends to a great extent on cloud thickness. Tropospheric clouds strongly affect photochemical reaction rates, also, by their ability to differentially scavenge water-soluble reactive species from the gas phase, increasing their concentrations by orders of magnitude and also providing a solvent that can facilitate reactions involving polar species (Lelieveld and Crutzen, 1991). Even the distance from the earth to the sun and the level of sunspot activity can affect sunlight, especially the UV wavelengths, significantly.