University Of Colorado Boulder, Academic Press, New York, London,
1996, 649 pp. - ISBN-13: 978-0-12-615160-2
Global satellite observations coupled with increasingly sophisticated computer simulation have led to rapid advances in our understanding of the atmosphere. While opening many doors, these tools have also raised new and increasingly complex questions about atmospheric behavior. At the same time, environmental issues have brought atmospheric science to the center of science and technology, where it now plays a key role in shaping national and inteational policy. An amalgam of several disciplines, atmospheric science is, by its very nature, interdisciplinary. It therefore requires one to master a wide range of skills and attracts students from varied backgrounds. Current environmental issues, like global warming and ozone depletion, have drawn increased attention to interdisciplinary problems, which involve interactions between traditional subjects like dynamics, radiation, and chemistry. Yet, the demands of specialization often make the introductory course in atmospheric science the only formal opportunity to develop a broad foundation in basic physical principles and how they interact to shape atmospheric behavior.
This book is intended to serve as a text for a graduate core course in atmospheric science. Mode research problems require a unified treatment of material that, historically, has been separated into physical and dynamical meteorology, one which establishes the interrelationship of these subjects. It is in this spirit that this book develops the fundamental principles of atmospheric physics.
Contents
Preface
A Global View
Thermodynamics of Gases
The Second Law and Its Implications
Heterogeneous Systems
Transformations of Moist Air
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Hydrostatic Stability
Atmospheric Radiation
Aerosol and Clouds
Atmospheric Motion
Atmospheric Equations of Motion
Large-Scale Motion
The Planetary Boundary Layer
Atmospheric Waves
The General Circulation
Hydrodynamic Instability
The Middle Atmosphere
Appendices
References
Answers to Selected Problems
Index
Global satellite observations coupled with increasingly sophisticated computer simulation have led to rapid advances in our understanding of the atmosphere. While opening many doors, these tools have also raised new and increasingly complex questions about atmospheric behavior. At the same time, environmental issues have brought atmospheric science to the center of science and technology, where it now plays a key role in shaping national and inteational policy. An amalgam of several disciplines, atmospheric science is, by its very nature, interdisciplinary. It therefore requires one to master a wide range of skills and attracts students from varied backgrounds. Current environmental issues, like global warming and ozone depletion, have drawn increased attention to interdisciplinary problems, which involve interactions between traditional subjects like dynamics, radiation, and chemistry. Yet, the demands of specialization often make the introductory course in atmospheric science the only formal opportunity to develop a broad foundation in basic physical principles and how they interact to shape atmospheric behavior.
This book is intended to serve as a text for a graduate core course in atmospheric science. Mode research problems require a unified treatment of material that, historically, has been separated into physical and dynamical meteorology, one which establishes the interrelationship of these subjects. It is in this spirit that this book develops the fundamental principles of atmospheric physics.
Contents
Preface
A Global View
Thermodynamics of Gases
The Second Law and Its Implications
Heterogeneous Systems
Transformations of Moist Air
Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Hydrostatic Stability
Atmospheric Radiation
Aerosol and Clouds
Atmospheric Motion
Atmospheric Equations of Motion
Large-Scale Motion
The Planetary Boundary Layer
Atmospheric Waves
The General Circulation
Hydrodynamic Instability
The Middle Atmosphere
Appendices
References
Answers to Selected Problems
Index