Book Description

What’s going on up there when the rain falls, when the wind blows, when the clouds roll in and the lightning flashes? How do hurricanes arise and where to tornadoes come from? Why do seasonal conditions sometimes vary so much from one year to the next? Our ways of life, our very existences depend on knowing the answers to questions like these. Economies have been wiped out, civilizations have risen and fallen, entire species have come into being or gone extinct because of a temperature shift of just a few degrees, or a brief shortage or glut of rainfall. With so much riding on the weather, it makes you wonder how you’ve lived this long without knowing more about it.

Don’t worry it’s never too late to find out about what makes the weather tick.

And there’s never been an easier or more enjoyable way to learn than Weather For Dummies. In know time, you’ll know enough of weather basics to be able to:

• Identify cloud types
• Make sense of seasonal differences in the weather
• Understand what causes hurricanes, tornadoes, and other extreme events
• Make your own weather forecasts
• Avoid danger during severe weather
• Understand the global warming debate
• Get a handle on smog, the greenhouse effect, El Niño, and more

Award-winning science writer John D. Cox brings the science of meteorology down to earth and, with the help of dozens of cool maps and charts and stunning photographs of weather conditions, he covers a wide range of fascinating subjects, including:

• What is weather and how it fits into the entire global ecosystem
• What goes into making a professional daily weather forecast
• The basic elements of weather, including air pressure, clouds, and humidity
• Storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, and other extreme forms of weather
• Seasonal weather effects and why they vary
• Lightening, rainbows, sundogs, haloes, and other special effects

Featuring clear explanations, stunning illustrations, and fun, easy experiments and activities you can do at home , Weather For Dummies is your guide to making sense of  the baffling turmoil of the ever-changing skies above. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Reader-Friendly Reference
Weather is a subject that everyone knows something about. However that's just where John Cox starts. So one knows about Doppler radar? How about polar orbiters? So one has always heard the expression "it's too cold to snow?" Is it really?

Of course this is a reader-friendly book. But I will wager that it will soon turn into a handy reference book that is frequently pulled from the shelf.

Weather for Dummies
This is a great book for those of us interested more in the weather and less in stuffy meteorology. I now have an understanding of "relative humidity" and why a "dry heat" is more comfortable than humid heat. I now know where some weather proverbs come from, such as "Red sky at night, sailor's delight." (There's actually factual basis for this proverb.)

This book makes a nice coffee table book, and it lends itself to casual reading. But if you're serious about the weather, you can get a lot from this book as well. There's a chapter on setting up your own weather instruments at home and keeping a weather diary. And the appendix lists a number of websites where you can learn even more about the weather. No more glib answers from me when someone says, "How about this weather?"

Great Book on Weather
Very good book on the topic. It gives a great description and count on how weather forms for example hurricanes like el nino. I am glad that dummies finally put out a book on weather. Nice job John D. Cox. It's good to see a new writer in this field!! ... Read more

Book Description

This introductory meteorology/weather and climate laboratory manual consists of 18 exercises that combine data analysis, problem-solving, and experimentation with questions designed to encourage critical thinking. Each lab manual comes automatically packaged with a CD-ROM that contains software for use with some of the exercises.Updated content employs a different approach to presenting Coriolis force, upper-air, and surface winds, and integrates real-world data to illustrate these concepts; also contains a new version of GeoClock in Chapter 3. A new interface, designed in Flash, launches all computer software. Interactive computer modules—presented as JAVA applets—examines topics such as Earth-Sun geometry, radiation fluxes, moisture, hurricanes, and climate controls.A supplemental lab manual for experience in meteorology, atmospheric science, and weather and climate professions. ... Read more

Amazon.com

While governments debate and scientists test ever-more complicated hypotheses, ordinary people all over the world are starting to notice the effects of global warming. In High Tide, British journalist Mark Lynas visits global hot spots to record people's reactions and sound a clarion call for action. Readers looking for a "we are the world" approach to climate change may be taken aback by Lynas' flat expression of the uncomfortable truth: "Every time America votes, the world holds its breath.... Climate change begins and ends in America." Lynas damns the George W. Bush administration for undermining global efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol as well as actively preventing innovation within the United States that would reduce auto and industrial emissions. But High Tide isn't the firs or the best book to do that; instead, its narrative strength is in the riveting stories of how small towns, islands, riverside cities, and rural areas are being slowly destroyed. Gardeners in England will be unable to grow heritage plant species within the next 75 years. The Alaskan permafrost is melting, as temperatures there increase "ten times faster than in the rest of the world." An entire Pacific Island nation--Tuvalu--will soon disappear beneath the rising sea, leaving its people homeless. Lynas visits Alaska, Tuvalu, Peru, China, and the east coast of the United States, documenting the lives, places, and cultures that will be lost in the decades to come. Thankfully, just when hopelessness threatens to overwhelm the reader, High Tide offers a five-step plan to mitigate the most catastrophic effects of global climate change. Every step in the plan involves action by United States citizens and their elected representatives, offering American activists and visionaries a chance to do penance for wrecking parts of the world far from our own driveways. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Withdrawal symptoms
Although many studies of climate change and its impact have been published, few count the human cost. Mark Lynas makes up for that oversight in this vividly presented account. As a journalist, he's unconstrained by the limitations of long-term data sets, political reaction to his personal findings or peer group pressure. He travels the globe, even to the point of last minute flight bookings, to observe conditions. His approach is to confront people and ask about their experiences with changing weather over the years. The method is direct, straightforward and revealing. What it demonstrates is more than startling, it's devastating.

While the scientists debate the temperature rise rate or the intensity of this or that storm, around the planet people are living through the conditions of warming climate. Tuvalu residents, on their miniscule island chain in mid-Pacific, are watching the land wash away. It isn't just that melting ice caps are raising sea levels and ruining crops. There are more frequent and more devastating storms occuring. In China, land is also moving, but the reason is the opposite - the rains have ceased and the land is dried and blowing away in fierce desert winds. The account of a lone woman, the last survivor of a village overwhelmed by drought, is more poignant [to me] than anything found in fiction. And the number of such stories is growing.

If a most gripping part of this book must be chosen, it is Lynas' tour of Peru and the Cordillera Blanca glaciers. His father, a geologist, had visited the area three decades before, camera in hand. Huge glaciers, akin to frozen waterfalls, fill the images. With those photos in his knapsack, Lynas trudges up the slopes, racked by Alititude Sickness, to record any changes. His expression at the sight cannot be repeated here, a signal of his shock - and ours at his comparative photographs. The glaciers are gone! Lynas takes us through a litany of rivers of ice that are withdrawing from long established limits. The withdrawal has a dual results - not enough snow is feeding their growth, and the meltwater is no longer available to nourish human populations. He asks: what will the citizens of Lima do when there is no more water to drink? Lynas avoids prediction of furture El Ninos' impact on these conditions. He's hardly blameable for that. Some observations on North America's depletion of the Ogalalla Aquifer, only partly attributable to overuse of fossil fuels, however, would have been useful.

It is fossil fuel consumption that stands charged, indeed declared guilty by Lynas, as the culprit in these events. The tumultuous clouds of auto exhausts are the major source of gases rising into our atmosphere, choking off proper heat exchange mechanisms. The contributions of the oil industry to politicians short circuits any political action to curb these emmissions. Hence, Tuvalu is being swept away, China is choking with dust and Lima, Peru will soon be seeking homes for its million citizens. But the United States, the world's greatest and most persistent polluter, decrys or subverts all efforts to quell the output of their millions of vehicles, while assiduously searching for more to burn.

Lynas is unequivical in his denunciations. At the same time, he invokes response from his readers to take action. Pollution increases can be curbed, he argues in his conclusion. It is you who must take the first steps. America, he stresses, must follow the lead of the European Union. Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is the first step - a committment to stop, then reduce emissions. "Contraction and convergence" policies must be implemented as a means of reducing emissions with a minimal impact on economies. The quest for new supplies of fossil fuels must cease and the funds used to promote alternative energy sources. Individual actions, amazingly easy small steps, must be taken and imparting to others the need follow your example spreads the message. "Don't be scared to speak out!", he warns. Who should read his warning message? Anyone who breathes - and wishes to continue breathing. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

This book is scaring me!
I have to disagree with the other review posted for this book -- High Tide is not a scientific look at global warming but a journalistic coverage of what global warming is doing to our planet. I personally remember visiting Maine in 2001 and being told that the ocean no longer freezes in the same way it once did. Living in Los Angeles (where we've had virtually no winter for the last three years) and watching the weather channel's reports on the Midwest (where my sister lives, and where there seems to be much more severe weather than ever before), how can we doubt the severity of the problem? High Tide is an important read -- it will open your mind to global consequences and start conversations that need to be held. Highly recommended.

Read it as an example of how science should not be studied
Unfortunately the arguments are supported by invented facts.
The book uses isolated incidents as "proof" and ignores the facts about what is really occuring on our globe.
A point being that overall "globally" glaciers are growing but the book only focuses on individual examples of melting glaciers.
This is not science. ... Read more

Book Description

This reader-friendly book offers current and comprehensive information about the atmosphere—its components, problems, and applications. It features everyday examples to help the reader understand weather and climate, with incredible photographs, satellite images, and line art.Broad in scope and clearly and concisely written, this book features such topics as temperature, moisture and atmospheric stability, condensation and precipitation, air pressure and winds, circulation, air masses, weather patterns, thunderstorms and tornadoes, hurricanes, air pollution, world climates, and optical phenomena.For readers interested in a book that discusses up-to-date weather and climate issues that affect the world's people everyday; can also be utilized as a reference text for those in the field of meteorology and other earth sciences. ... Read more

Book Description

Raymond S. Bradley provides his readers with a comprehensive and up-to-date review of all of the important methods used in paleoclimatic reconstruction, dating and paleoclimate modeling. Two comprehensive chapters on dating methods provide the foundation for all paleoclimatic studies and are followed by up-to-date coverage of ice core research, continental geological and biological records, pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating, tree rings and historical records. New methods using alkenones in marine sediments and coral studies are also described. Paleoclimatology, Second Edition, is an essential textbook for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students studying climatology, paleoclimatology and paleooceanography worldwide, as well as a valuable reference for lecturers and researchers, appealing to archaeologists and scientists interested in environmental change.

* Contains two up-to-date chapters on dating methods
* Consists of the latest coverage of ice core research, marine sediment and coral studies, continental geological and biological records, pollen analysis, tree rings, and historical records
* Describes the newest methods using alkenones in marine sediments and long continental pollen records
* Addresses all important methods used in paleoclimatic reconstruction
* Includes an extensive chapter on the use of models in paleoclimatology
* Extensive and up-to-date bibliography
* Illustrated with numerous comprehensive figure captions ... Read more

Book Description

An entirely new way for students to observe, analyze, and understand meteorology -- Steven A. Ackerman and John A. Knox's METEOROLOGY: UNDERSTANDING THE ATMOSPHERE is scientific, topical, and scholarly. The authors present the subject of weather as it directly affects your students using vivid photographs and compelling real-life stories. METEOROLOGY generates interest and genuine enthusiasm for the subject by making weather phenomena come alive via conceptual models and engaging narrative that explain their existence and help students discover the fascinating processes that determine weather.METEOROLOGY emphasizes how we observe the atmosphere and then uses those observations to explain atmospheric phenomena. By learning how to interpret scientific observations of the atmosphere, students can deepen their understanding of the subject. The text's instructor-friendly and modular structure are based on the authors' combined teaching experiences at five different universities. In addition to the well-thought-out structure that makes it easy for instructors to tailor the book to their needs, the authors also include unique coverage of topics not found in other books for this course. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Book applets nominated for Pixie Awards
The applets available in association with this book (The Why Files Interactives) have been nominated for excellence in website design that incorporates motion. See the press release below:

3rd Annual Pixie Nominations Honor Online Films and Animations

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 17, 2004 -- On the heels of an earlier than usual Oscars, the Directors Board of Broadband Motion Pixure Arts and Technologies today released nominees for its 3rd Annual Pixie Awards, which honor achievement in online and broadband motion picture production.

Formally known as the Directors Board Awards for Achievement in Broadband Motion Pixure Production, the Pixie Awards are widely considered the top award -- if not the only award -- in a burgeoning area of artistic endeavor that includes animation, film, and web site design.

"It's an enormous honor to be nominated by the Pixie Awards in one category, but to be nominated in two categories is simply over the top!" said Looney Bin Animation Studios creative director Stan Holden upon hearing the good news about his animated feature Rebel Without a Claus.

"It's the equivalent of being nominated for an Oscar!" Holden added from his offices in Orange County, Calif.

The Pixie Awards include categories for Best Web Design that Incorporates Motion and Best Original Score for an i-Feature -- a film that resides entirely on the Internet.

...

The nominees for the 3rd Annual Pixie Awards are:
(edited for appropriate category)

Best Web Design that Incorporates Motion

SantaFeHealingArt --
Anand Nunnally, Jill Schwarz, Jason Goodyear, Clarence Cline, Lucinda Dykes, and Michael Tincher, Designers

Jibjab -- Evan Spiridellis, Mike Jaffe and Gregg Spiridellis, Designers

***The Why Files Interactives -- Sue Medaris, Tom Whittaker and Steve Ackerman, Designers

Award-winning book
This book has won a Talby Award from the Society of Academic Authors. Please see release below.

Meteorologists' book wins visuals award
WINONA, Minn., March 24, 2003 -- A college meteorology textbook by Steve Ackerman and John Knox won a William Henry Fox Talbot Prize for excellence in visuals from the Sociey of Academic Authors. The book, Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere, published by Brooks/Cole under the editorshop of Keith Dodson, was praised by one member of the SA2 panel of judges as an "exceptional job pulling together relevant data to be presented in original graphic formats." Said other judges: "The text is visually sophisticated, truly interesting, and up-to-date, with always apt and sometimes ravishing images, figurative models, and tables used to support its thoughtful pedagogy." "This book has some of the most pretty and apt graphics that I have ever seen in a textbook.""Quite simply, the production quality is superb." "Visuals are integral and are used generously." Learning of the award, Knox said: "I'm excited to see that the judges appreciated our efforts so thoroughly -- especially since Steve and I are both first-time authors. Knox is a research scientist and lecturer at the University of Georgia. Ackerman is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The announcement in the fourth in a series on the 2003 Talbies. ... Read more

Book Description

This book has been written in response to a need for a text to support several of the introductory courses in atmospheric sciences commonly taught in universities; namely, introductory survey courses at the junior or senior undergraduate level and beginning graduate level, the undergraduate physicalmeteorology course, and the undergraduate synoptic laboratory. These courses serve to introduce the student to the fundamental physical principles upon which the atmospheric sciences are based and to provide an elementary description and interpretation of the wide range of atmospheric phenomena dealt with in detail in more advanced courses. In planning the book we have assumed that students enrolled in such courses have already had some exposure to calculus and physics at the first-year college level and to chemistry at the high school level. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent (albeit dated) treatment of atmos. science
(Update--there is a new version of this textbook at some stage of the review process...watch for it soon!)
It's too bad Wallace and Hobbs never got around to revising this edition of the text, written in 1977. Of all the undergraduate textbooks I had, this was by far the best.

W&H cover all the important topics in meteorology and atmospheric science. Each chapter is very well written, easy to understand, and has good graphics and thought-provoking (often difficult!) questions at the end of each chapter. Each chapter ends with a series of mathematical questions--some of which require a good bit of thinking to arrive at the right equation to use; and also a series of "explain or interpret these statements." This is where you find out how much you really know!

Why do I like this book? Each chapter can, to some extent, stand on its own. Even though the material is dated (Chapter 5, on clouds and storms, would need significant additions in a course taught today), fundamental principles were the same then and are explained well. The historical notes about famous scientists also add character to the text.

My suggestion for a new reader: Chapters 1, 2, 8, 3, and 5 in that order. Then add Chapters 9, 4, 6, and 7. This way, you get the fundamental theory and then get to apply all you know to actual weather systems (in 3 and 5). The remaining four are almost like special topics and can be read at any time. If anyone has better suggestions, let me know!

stimulating book
Although not being a specialist in the field (mine is Condensed Matter Physics), I found this book to be quite stimulating and well written. It is suitable for a student who has already some familiarity with Physics and Calculus (including several variables and vector calculus) and , in my opinion, that is just what makes it exciting, because it does not, although being introductory, bores the non-specialist reader with a mass of details or strict qualitative information. I have been responsible for introductory Themodynamics classes for students of Physics and Meteorology for the last four years in my institute, and now I intend to use examples from the book . ... Read more

Book Description

Bringing together leading researchers, this volume surveys recent developments in the fields of atmospheric turbulence and mesoscale meteorology, with particular emphasis on the areas pioneered by Douglas K. Lilly. Numerical simulation is an increasingly important tool for improving our understanding of a wide range of atmospheric phenomena, and this book looks at modern applications. ... Read more

Book Description

Providing a comprehensive review of our understanding of the small, high latitude weather systems known as polar lows, Erik Rasmussen and John Turner describe the climatological distribution of these depressions.They cover observational investigations into their structure, the operational forecasting of polar lows and the theoretical research into why they develop. They also discuss the experiments that reveal that some polar lows can be predicted. This book is of value to researchers and professional weather forecasters concerned with polar regions. ... Read more

Book Description

Here is the most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of one of the hottest areas of chemical research. The treatment of fundamental kinetics and photochemistry will be highly useful to chemistry students and their instructors at the graduate level, as well as postdoctoral fellows entering this new, exciting, and well-funded field with a Ph.D. in a related discipline (e.g., analytical, organic, or physical chemistry, chemical physics, etc.). Chemistry of the Upper and Lower Atmosphere provides postgraduate researchers and teachers with a uniquely detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative resource. The text bridges the "gap" between the fundamental chemistry of the earth's atmosphere and "real world" examples of its application to the development of sound scientific risk assessments and associated risk management control strategies for both tropospheric and stratospheric pollutants.

Key Features
*Serves as a graduate textbook and "must have"reference for all atmospheric scientists
* Provides more than 5000 references to the literature through the end of 1998
* Presents tables of new actinic flux data for the troposphere and stratospher (0-40km)
* Summarizes kinetic and photochemical date for the troposphere and stratosphere
*Features problems at the end of most chapters to enhance the book's use in teaching
* Includes applications of the OZIPR box model with comprehensive chemistry for student use ... Read more

Reviews (1)

New Horizons
The scope and technical detail of this seminal work covering the cutting edge in Atmospheric chemistry is beyond remarkable. Just the number of references is mind boggling. The book presents the material in a very readable and understandable style. The authors have kept the reader in mind. They also add surprising levity on occasion and show a keen grasp of areas outside chemistry. I know of no other work in this field that is more current, comprehensive, and helpful. If only other scientific works were as thorough and readable. ... Read more

Book Description

Nature’s cycles affect not only the external climate, but also our internal health and mental well-being. With this as its primary tenet, STAYING HEALTHY WITH THE SEASONS revolutionized the fields of preventive and integrated medicine when it was first published in 1981, and introduced a seasonal approach to nutrition, disease prevention, and mind-and-body fitness. A leading practitioner of the season-based lifestyle theory, Dr. Elson Haas provides simple, logical advice for achieving glowing good health: Bring the mind and body into balance with the earth, and consume a diet that emphasizes in-season, chemical-free foods. Joining Western and Eastern medicines with seasonal nutrition, herbology, and exercise practices, this timeless classic, revised for the 21st century, provides the keys to staying healthy from spring right on through winter. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

User-Friendly and Empowering Book of Healing
I discovered this book as it was part of my curriculum in Holistic Massage Therapy School. But it is applicable to anyone who is looking to learn about holistic health self-care. Based on the Chinese 5-Element theory, Staying Healthy With The Seasons explores the particular energies, meridians, organs, moods, strongpoints and pitfalls of each season. It is easy to read, and pick and choose which ideas you like and would like to incorporate into new habits to try. There are so many ideas for each season, ranging from dietary cleansing, to mental patterns, to holistic bodywork recommended for the season, that you are bound to find some ideas that really appeal to you where you are now, and others you may like to try later.

This book really helped me to grow in ways I hadn't expected, and to release some difficulties and toxins I'd been holding onto on an emotional as well as physical level for several years. I felt very empowered using it to cleanse and refresh myself, inside and out!

Tried and true
This book is fabulous! I've done the elimination cleanse twice to astounding results. I'm about to do it again. It takes effort and about a month, but it's worth it for the absolute well-being you feel as a result. I've recommended this book to many people and all of them sing its praises! You will too!

Understanding Chinese Elements for Body Health All Year
I have owned and read this book for well over fifteen years. It is the first book I consult when self diagnosing any ill health for myself, family and friends. It had accidently fallen behind my other health books on my book shelf and I truly panicked. My very first thought was where can I get another copy. Having searched the entire shelf and joyfully locating it once more, I was determined to order another for back-up. It is the only book I have ever read that succinctly and clearly explains the five elements in the body, how they each are prominent in their own season and how best to cure any ailment during each season. Wisdom of the ages for our modern era.

An excellant guide to living within nature's boundaries.
I have used this book for the last ten years, and gone through two different copies. Every season I refer to the guidelines and always find that I do much better healthwise if I follow the path indicated. I also taught martial arts for a time and the children that I worked with all understood the concepts therein, when presented properly. They are that basic. I cannot say enough for this book. It has become a part of my life and a way of life for me.

A great introduction to Chinese medicine.
In this well-written book, Elson Haas gives an excellent overview of Chinese medicine and how the human body and spirit change with the seasons. He explains how to facilitate and enhance these natural processes through subtle changes in diet, exercise, and rest habits, with additional tips for periodic internal cleansing and spiritual nurturing. Charts and diagrams make it easy to understand, and his clear, positive writing style helps inspire the reader to follow his recommendations. This book will help you be more in tune with the world around you as well as your body's own natural rhythms. ... Read more

Book Description

This text provides a foundation in both the theoretical and practical aspects of radiative transfer, for advanced students of atmospheric, oceanic and environmental sciences. The transfer of solar and infrared radiation through optically-thick clouds, aerosol layer, and the oceanic mixed layer is presented through the use of heuristic models of scattering and absorption, and a systematic approach to formulation and solution of the radiative transfer equation. Problems such as the the transmission of ultraviolet radiation through the atmosphere and ocean, remote sensing, solar heating and infrared cooling processes, UV biological dose rates, and Greenhouse warming are solved using a variety of methods. This self-contained, systematic treatment will prepare students from a range of disciplines in problems concerning the effects of solar and infrared radiation on natural systems. The hardback edition received excellent reviews. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great physical insight solving radiative transfer problems
This text covers a broad range of topics in radiative transfer with clarity and style. What is particularly appreciated is that the text not only provides detailed solutions to radiative transfer problems, but discusses their weaknesses and strengths in practical applications, and also provides unusual insight into their physical meaning. My only complaint is that the notation is somewhat unconventional (for example the single-scattering albedo is represented by 'a'), and this takes some getting used to. ... Read more

Book Description

The purpose of this monograph is both to introduce and review developed topographic methods for discovering 2D and 3D structures of the ionosphere and to discuss the experimental implementation of these methods. The theoretical part deals with the solution of the inverse problem of diffraction tomography for a wide range of properties of ionospheric media. Examples are given to illustrate the experimental reconstruction of electron-density distributions in ionospheric sections. In addition to addressing the specialist researcher, the detailed derivations and explanations make this book an excellent starting point for nonspecialists and graduate students who wish to enter this exciting new field to which the authors have made pioneering contributions. ... Read more

Book Description

WAVES IN THE OCEAN AND ATMOSPHERE presents a study of the fundamental theory of waves appropriate for first year graduate students in oceanography, meteorology and associated sciences. Starting with an elementary overview of the basic wave concept, specific wave phenomena are then examined, including: surface gravity waves, internal gravity waves, lee waves, waves in the presence of rotation, geostrophic adjustment, quasi-geostrophic waves and potential vorticity, wave-mean flow interaction and unstable waves. Each wave topic is used to introduce either a new technique or concept in general wave theory. Emphasis is placed on connectivity between the various subjects and on the physical interpretation of the mathematical results. The book contains numerous exercises at the end of the respective chapters. ... Read more

Book Description

The Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts is the first of two stand-alone volumes that will be landmarks in the meteorological literature for many years to come. Each volume encompasses both fundamental topics and critical issues that have recently surfaced in studies of the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Renowned experts have contributed to every part of this handbook. Each overview chapter is followed by topic-specific chapters written by specialists who present comprehensive discussions at a greater level of detail and complexity.

The Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts covers topics that are essential for grasping the scientific bases of major issues such as global climate warming, the ozone hole, acid rain, floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. Cross-references between chapters allow readers to easily pursue a specific interest beyond a particular subtopic or individual chapter.  Other topics include:

-Aerosols and smog
-Cloud chemistry
-Greenhouse gases
-Remote sensing techniques in hydrology
-Hydrologic forecasting and simulation
-Tropical deforestation effects on the climate system
-Societal impacts of the El Niño phenomenon

The Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts will be an essential addition to the libraries of professionals and academics in the environmental sciences, and a valuable source book for university and technical libraries throughout the world. ... Read more

Book Description

This Second Edition of An Introduction to Atmospheric Radiation has been extensively revised to address the fundamental study and quantitative measurement of the interactions of solar and terrestrial radiation with molecules, aerosols, and cloud particles in planetary atmospheres. It contains 70% new material, much of it stemming from the investigation of the atmospheric greenhouse effects of external radiative perturbations in climate systems, and the development of methodologies for inferring atmospheric and surface parameters by means of remote sensing. Liou's comprehensive treatment of the fundamentals of atmospheric radiation was developed for students, academics, and researchers in atmospheric sciences, remote sensing, and climate modeling.

Key Features
*Balanced treatment of fundamentals and applications
*Includes over 170 illustrations to complement the concise description of each subject
*Numerous examples and hands-on exercises at the end of each chapter ... Read more

Book Description

Recent climatic changes (e.g., global warming, El Niño)have brought climate to the forefront of popular science. Climatology:An Atmospheric Science, Second Edition explains the sciencebehind these widely publicized events within the systematic coverageof climate and climatology. In addition, readers will gain an appreciationof the impact climate has on life as well as the basic processes thatoperate in the atmosphere.Covers Physical And Dynamic Climatology; Regional Climatology; Past And Future Climates; Applied Climatology; and more.For readers interested in science, climatology, or weather. ... Read more

Book Description

Spacecraft interact with the space environment in ways that may affect the operation of the spacecraft as well as any scientific experiments that are carried out from the spacecraft platform. In turn the study of these interactions provides information on the space environment. The adverse environmental effects, such as the effect of the radiation belts on electronics, and spacecraft charging from the magnetospheric plasma, means that designers need to understand interactive phenomena to be able to effectively design spacecraft. This has led to the new discipline of spacecraft-environment interactions. The emphasis in this book is on the fundamental physics of the interactions. Spacecraft-Environment Interactions is a valuable introduction to the subject for all students and researchers interested in the application of fluid, gas, plasma and particle dynamics to spacecraft and for spacecraft system engineers. ... Read more

Book Description

This book provides the most comprehensive treatment to date ofthe microphysical processes which lead to cloud and precipitationformation. Emphasis is placed on presenting a quantitative descriptionof the various mechanisms (e.g. nucleation, diffusional growth andevaporation, collisional growth and breakup) which lead to theformation of cloud and precipitation particles, individually and inpopulations. The second edition of this highly acclaimed book has been extensivelyupdated to incorporate new research reported in a large number ofarticles and dozens of books and conference proceedings publishedsince the first edition. Some highlights include: a new chapter oncloud chemistry; improved statistical mechanics models for homogeneousand heterogeneous ice nucleation; better data on aerosol sizedistribution and on fundamental properties of water; new data andmodels for asymmetric flow past particles of various shapes and fordrop oscillation and breakup; extended treatment of drop coalescenceand particle collision cross-sections, including some new effects ofturbulence; more complete simulations of stochastic growth; expandedtreatment of growth modes of graupel, rime and hailstones; new fielddata and modelling concerning effects of electric fields and chargeson cloud microphysics. Audience:The book is directed primarily at undergraduate andgraduate level students of cloud physics, as well as at specialists inthe field of aerosol physics, cloud dynamics, climate modelling, airchemistry, air pollution, and weather modification. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is the bible of cloud physics
Following the first edition in 1978, this book is an updated and expanded (especially in cloud chemistry) version of this well-known textbook in cloud physics. It covers nearly every topics of cloud physics and chemistry(and aerosol physics as well)in great detail with extensive references(more than 60 pages!). Indispensable for anyone in cloud physics,atmospheric aerosol, and possibly climate scientists. ... Read more