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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Meteorology > General
In this book the author has succeeded in presenting the many facets of the globel problems and hazards for our climate and thei r i nterdi scip l inary aspects, as we II as maki ng these under- standable for the non-specialist. In doing this, the author has not restricted himself to an analysis of the difficult problems but has indicated the necessity and the possibilities for ratio- na l so lutions. The book, therefore, can be a va lueb le deci si on- aid for all those who directly or indirectly are in positions of responsibi lity at various levels of administration or in industry end busi ness. We ll-timed precauti onary measures agai nst a g loba l deteri o- ration of cLimate are not only necessary for reasons of environ- mental protection. They are also an economical end political necessity. The measures include the reduction of the combustion of fossi l fue ls, a more rati one l energy uti l ization, as we II as the establishment of a global equilibrium between forest loss and reforestati on. The Federal German Government takes these potential anthro- pogenic climate changes very seriously. In order to obtein better scientific information, the Federal Government has ini- ti ated an i nterdi sci p l i nary nati one l Climate Programme. At the same time, the Federal Republic of Germany supports the relevant activities within the frame of international cooperation.
The 35th OHOLO Conference, which provided the basis for the present book covered a broad range of topics. Basic studies and newly developed methods in modeling atmospheric flows are discussed, besides analyses of concentration fluctuations in different atmospheric conditions, and techniques of data acquisition. The book gives an excellent state-of-the-art impression of the situation in turbulent diffusion and transport.
Light scattering by densely packed inhomogeneous media is a particularly ch- lenging optics problem. In most cases, only approximate methods are used for the calculations. However, in the case where only a small number of macroscopic sc- tering particles are in contact (clusters or aggregates) it is possible to obtain exact results solving Maxwell's equations. Simulations are possible, however, only for a relativelysmallnumberofparticles,especiallyiftheirsizesarelargerthanthewa- length of incident light. The ?rst review chapter in PartI of this volume, prepared by Yasuhiko Okada, presents modern numerical techniques used for the simulation of optical characteristics of densely packed groups of spherical particles. In this case, Mie theory cannot provide accurate results because particles are located in the near ?eld of each other and strongly interact. As a matter of fact, Maxwell's equations must be solved not for each particle separately but for the ensemble as a whole in this case. The author describes techniques for the generation of shapes of aggregates. The orientation averaging is performed by a numerical integration with respect to Euler angles. The numerical aspects of various techniques such as the T-matrix method, discrete dipole approximation, the ?nite di?erence time domain method, e?ective medium theory, and generalized multi-particle Mie so- tion are presented. Recent advances in numerical techniques such as the grouping and adding method and also numerical orientation averaging using a Monte Carlo method are discussed in great depth.
There are three specific purposes of "Construction Dispute Research. "First, this volume aims to summarise studies on construction dispute. Second, apart from the theoretical constructs, where appropriate empirical tests are also included. This approach serves to go beyond the commonly used anecdotal approach for the subject matters. Third, it is the sincere hope of the authors that this book will help shaping research agenda of construction dispute. The studies are mostly framed from a management perspective drawing on methods and concepts in contract law, economics, psychology and management science. The book has twenty chapters that are arranged in four parts covering conceptualisation, avoidance, negotiation and mediation. Part 1 is devoted for dispute conceptualisation. A building is only as strong as its foundation. Thus it is no better start to study construction dispute by conceptualisation. The theme of Part 2 is dispute avoidance. The conventional wisdom of 'prevention is better than cure' seems can be applied to all problems. As far as construction dispute is concerned, equitable risk allocation and trust are the two most commonly accepted avoidance strategies. Part 3 focuses on negotiation that is the gateway to resolution as almost all disputes are negotiated first before the service of other mechanisms. Negotiation is sometimes described as an art because settlement may not be obtained solely from legal and rational approaches. Part 3 discusses the behavioral dimensions of construction dispute negotiation. Part 4 deals with Mediation- a form of assisted negotiation. Specially, the skill of the mediators in facilitating settlement, the interrelationships among dispute sources, mediator tactics and mediation outcomes are explored.The studies presented in "Construction Dispute Research" collectively demonstrate holistic approach in dispute management. Each chapter can be read as a study on its own. Practitioners will find the book a handy reference in dispute management and resolution. Students would find the book useful in explaining in details the causes of dispute, the processes to resolve them. The research design and empirical approaches are particularly useful to students in construction management, architectural, surveying and civil engineering programs."
This book looks at global atmospheric processes from a physical standpoint using available current and past observational data taken from measurements of relevant atmospheric parameters. It describes various aspects of the current atmospheric state and its future evolution, focusing primarily on the energetic balance of the Earth and atmosphere, and taking into consideration the multi-faceted global equilibrium between these two systems, carbon, and water. The analysis presented in this book restricts itself to those objects and processes that allow us to obtain reliable conclusions and numerical estimations, in contrast to current climate models with much larger numbers of parameters for describing the same problems. As a result, in spite of the roughness of numerical parameters, the book unveils a reliable and transparent physical picture of energetic phenomena in the global atmosphere. In particular, it shows that approximately only one-fourth of atmospheric water returns from the atmosphere to the Earth in the form of free molecules. It was shown that the contemporary warming of our planet has an anthropogenic character, and that the average global temperature increases due to an increase of the concentration of atmospheric CO2 molecules, via an increase in atmospheric moisture, as well as an increase in the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere. Accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide plays a subsidiary role in this process and gives approximately one-third in a change of the global temperature, while an increase in the amount of atmospheric water by as little as only 0.3% per year explains the observed warming of the Earth. The book shows how the greenhouse instability of the atmosphere evidently has its origins in the Eocene epoch, presenting an analysis of the influence of various types of global energetic processes on the climate that differs from the official stance on these problems.
On April 1, 1946, shortly after sunrise, the town of Hilo on the island of Hawai'i was devastated by a series of giant waves. Traveling 2,300 miles from the Aleutian Islands in less than five hours, the waves struck without warning and claimed 159 lives. Fourteen years later, on May 22, 1960, a massive earthquake occurred off of the coast of Chile. The earthquake generated giant waves that sped across the Pacific at 442 miles per hour, reaching Hilo in just fifteen hours. The first wave to hit the town was a modest four feet higher than normal, the second nine feet. Before the third wave could arrive, a tidal phenomenon known as a bore smashed into the Hilo bayfront, with thirty-five foot waves that wrenched buildings off their foundations. That day several city blocks were swept clean of all structures and 61 people died. The first edition of Tsunami!, published in 1988, provided readers with a complete examination of the tsunami phenomenon in Hawai'i. This second edition adds many eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis of 1946 and 1960 and expands its coverage to include major tsunamis in the Mediterranean and off the coasts of Japan, Chile, Indonesia, Fiji, Alaska, California, Newfoundland, and the Caribbean, as well as the 1998 devastation in Papua New Guinea. Dramatic photographs and accounts of experiencing a tsunami firsthand are placed within the framework of the how and why of tsunamis, our scientific understanding of these phenomena, and the current status of the Tsunami Warning System, which is widely used to forecast and measure tsunamis and prepare coastal areas for potentially deadly tsunami strikes.
In this volume, we present the lectures given during the 1984 OHOLO Conference, held in Zichron Yaacov, Israel. The Conference was organized by the Israel Institute for Biological Research, Department of Mathematics, which is involved in Environmental Risk Evaluation, and in Projects Estimating the Potential of Wind Energy. The lectures cover a broad spectrum of mathematical models, ranging from those that deal with the solution of atmospheric conservation equations, and to those models that yield empirical estimates based on real time measure ments and thus are unique to the locale where measured. The goal of the Conference was to allow scientists from various countries to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest, including the following: 1. Structure of the boundary layer - primarily models dealing in the understanding of the various processes of atmospheric energy transfer, and their influence on the size and composition of the boundary 1 ayer. 2. Advanced mathematical techniques for describing flow and diffusion - lectures on approximations and techniques for solving the diffu sion and transport equations. 3. Flow over complex terrain - research into various aspects of the problem - mathematical models, physical models, experimental results. 4. Models of pollution transport and deposition."
This book focuses on how climate affects or affected the biosphere and vice versa both in the present and in the past. The chapters describe how ecosystems from the Antarctic and Arctic, and from other latitudes, respond to global climate change. The papers highlight plant responses to atmospheric CO2 increase, to global warming and to increased ultraviolet-B radiation as a result of stratospheric ozone depletion.
Dimensional analysis is an essential scientific method and a powerful tool for solving problems in physics and engineering. This book starts by introducing the Pi Theorem, which is the theoretical foundation of dimensional analysis. It also provides ample and detailed examples of how dimensional analysis is applied to solving problems in various branches of mechanics. The book covers the extensive findings on explosion mechanics and impact dynamics contributed by the author 's research group over the past forty years at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The book is intended for research scientists and engineers working in the fields of physics and engineering, as well as graduate students and advanced undergraduates of the related fields. Qing-Ming Tan is a former Professor at the Institute of Mechanics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. Qing-Ming Tan is a former Professor at the Institute of Mechanics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
A group of experts developed the outline for the Atmospheric Transport Model Evaluation Study and specified the requirements of modellers for radiological and meterological data. The results of the study are presented in this book.
This book describes the latest research advances, innovations, and applications in the field of water management and environmental engineering as presented by leading researchers, engineers, life scientists and practitioners from around the world at the Frontiers International Conference on Wastewater Treatment (FICWTM), held in Palermo, Italy in May 2017. The topics covered are highly diverse and include the physical processes of mixing and dispersion, biological developments and mathematical modeling, such as computational fluid dynamics in wastewater, MBBR and hybrid systems, membrane bioreactors, anaerobic digestion, reduction of greenhouse gases from wastewater treatment plants, and energy optimization. The contributions amply demonstrate that the application of cost-effective technologies for waste treatment and control is urgently needed so as to implement appropriate regulatory measures that ensure pollution prevention and remediation, safeguard public health, and preserve the environment. The contributions were selected by means of a rigorous peer-review process and highlight many exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different water specialists.
On decadal time scales, climate change may result not only from man-made causes, but also from natural processes. This book brings together theoretical conceptions of the physical mechanisms of climate change with observational evidence of these changes. The following key topics are included: Observed Climatic Variability, Predictability of the Atmosphere and Oceans from Days to Decades, and Mechanisms for Decadal to Centennial Climate Variability. Further, there are specialised contributions on the role of the oceanic circulation in climate change. The authors are renowned for their pedagogical skills, and the book is primarily designed for beginners in the field, who have a background in physical science. In addition, it is an invaluable source of information for scientists seeking an overview on climate dynamics.
Climate change is a major environmental concern of regional, national, and international scope, but its inherent uncertainties have often been cited as the main reason for delaying any actions to mitigate its potential impacts. Recent reviews of environmental impact assessments have shown that impacts from climate change have been inadequately addressed and that the corresponding uncertainties have been addressed even more poorly within them. However, this inaction runs completely contrary to the principles of sound risk management, since a proper consideration of the impact from uncertainty increases, rather than decreases, the rationale for preventative action. Irrespective of climate uncertainties, decisions have to be made today and it proves a better course of action to adopt the precautionary principle when making these decisions by recognizing the uncertainties rather than by ignoring them completely. Change Uncertainties in Environmental Assessments demonstrates methods for addressing, incorporating, and communicating the inherent uncertainties surrounding climate change in environmental impact assessments. Clearly, potential impacts from climate change require immediate attention because of the uncertainties, not in spite of them.
Climatic Change is a rapidly evolving domain that has prompted the publication of numerous scientific works in recent years, reflecting both the public and scientific interest in the topic. This book focuses upon climate processes, variability and change and applies the general principles related to these issues, particularly in Switzerland. Although a small country, Switzerland is characterized by complex topography where climatic processes are often enhanced due to the presence of the Alps. In addition, there is a remarkable density of observational data in both the natural and social sciences that enable a comprehensive assessment of climate processes, their long-term trends and their impacts. This book draws upon recent scientific work by the author, as well as by close colleagues working within scientific networks both in Switzerland and Europe, in order to provide the reader with up-to-date information on climate processes in the course of the 20th and 21st centuries. This book is intended for students from the undergraduate level onwards and researchers interested in climate issues specific to the alpine region.
This book describes the state-of-the art instruments for measuring the solar irradiance from soft x-ray to the near infrared and the total solar irradiance. Furthermore, the SORCE mission and early results on solar variability are presented along with papers that provide an overview of solar influences on Earth. This collection of papers provides the only detailed description of the SORCE mission and its instruments.
In regions as densely populated as Western Europe, prediction of the ecological implications of pollutant transport are important in order to minimise damage in the case of accidents, and to evaluate the possible influence of existing or planned sources. In most cases, such predictions depend on high-speed computation. The present textbook presents a mathematically explicit introduction in eight chapters: 1: An introduction to the basics of fluid dynamics of the atmosphere and the local events and mesoscale processes. 2: The types of PDEs describing atmospheric flows for limited area models, the problem of appropriate boundary conditions describing the topographical constraints, and well-posedness. 3: Thermodynamics of the atmosphere, dry and wet, its stability, and radiation processes, budgets and the influence of their sum. 4: Scaling and similarity laws for stable and convective turbulent atmospheric boundary layers and the influence of inhomogeneous terrain on the advection and the vertical dispersion, and the method of large eddy simulation. 5: Statistical processes in turbulent dispersion, turbulent diffusion and chemical reactions in fluxes. 6: Theoretical modelling of diffusion and dispersion of pollutant gases. 7: The influence of urban heat production on local climate. 8: Atmospheric inversion layers and lapping inversion, the stable boundary layer and nocturnal inversion.
Soil carbon sequestration can play a strategic role in controlling the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere and thereby help mitigate climatic change. There are scientific opportunities to increase the capacity of soils to store carbon and remove it from circulation for longer periods of time. The vast areas of degraded and desertified lands throughout the world offer great potential for the sequestration of very large quantities of carbon. If credits are to be bought and sold for carbon storage, quick and inexpensive instruments and methods will be needed to monitor and verify that carbon is actually being added and maintained in soils. Large-scale soil carbon sequestration projects pose economic and social problems that need to be explored. This book focuses on scientific and implementation issues that need to be addressed in order to advance the discipline of carbon sequestration from theory to reality. The main issues discussed in the book are broad and cover aspects of basic science, monitoring, and implementation. The opportunity to restore productivity of degraded lands through carbon sequestration is examined in detail. This book will be of special interest to professionals in agronomy, soil science, and climatology.
This volume is based on a workshop on "Effects of accumulation of air pollutants in forest ecosystems'; held in GOttingen, Federal Republic of Germany, from May 16-18, 1982. This work'shop was initiated and sponsored by the Environmental Agency of the Federal Republic of Germany (project officer: Dr. J. Pankrath) as part of a research contract (project leader: Dr. B. Ulrich). THE PROBLEM SEEN UNDER THE ASPECT OF ADMINISTRATION The problem of forest damage caused by air pollution is not new in Europe. Already in 1983 a comprehensive report from Schroeder and Reuss about vegetation damages by fume in the Harz mountains was published. In 1923, Prof. Dr. Julius Stocklasa of the Bohemian Technical Highschool in Prague was concerned with research of toxical effects of sulphur dioxide in his publication "The damage of vegetation by flue gas and exhalations of facili ties." This comprehensive and instructive work concludes with the sentence: "It is already high time for the governments of all cultural states to take legal, police and private measures in order to prevent damage by flue gases." In the neighbourhood of industries with high gaseous and dust emissions damages have been shown to occur for a long timei these deleterious effects have influenced the growth of trees and in extreme cases have even caused their early death."
The scientific community has voiced two general concerns about the future of the earth. Climatologists and oceanographers have focused on the changes in our physical environment -- changes in the climate, the oceans, and the chemistry of the air we breathe. Environmental biologists, on the other hand, have addressed issues of conservation and the extinction of species. There is increasing evidence that these two broad concerns are intertwined and mutually dependent. Past changes in biodiversity have both responded to and caused changes in Earth's environment. In its discussions of ten key terrestrial biomes and freshwater ecosystems, this volume uses our broad understanding of global environmental change to present the first comprehensive scenarios of biodiversity for the twenty-first century. Combining physical earth science with conservation biology, Global Biodiversity in a Changing Environment provides a starting point for regional assessments on all scales. The book will be of interest to those concerned with guiding research on the changing environment of the earth and with planning future policy, especially in accordance with the Global Biodiversity Convention.
The enormous progress over the last decades in our understanding of the mechanisms behind the complex system "Earth" is to a large extent based on the availability of enlarged data sets and sophisticated methods for their analysis. Univariate as well as multivariate time series are a particular class of such data which are of special importance for studying the dynamical p- cesses in complex systems. Time series analysis theory and applications in geo- and astrophysics have always been mutually stimulating, starting with classical (linear) problems like the proper estimation of power spectra, which hasbeenputforwardbyUdnyYule(studyingthefeaturesofsunspotactivity) and, later, by John Tukey. In the second half of the 20th century, more and more evidence has been accumulated that most processes in nature are intrinsically non-linear and thus cannot be su?ciently studied by linear statistical methods. With mat- matical developments in the ?elds of dynamic system's theory, exempli?ed by Edward Lorenz's pioneering work, and fractal theory, starting with the early fractal concepts inferred by Harold Edwin Hurst from the analysis of geoph- ical time series, nonlinear methods became available for time seriesanalysis as well. Over the last decades, these methods have attracted an increasing int- est in various branches of the earth sciences. The world's leading associations of geoscientists, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the European Geosciences Union (EGU) have reacted to these trends with the formation of special nonlinear focus groups and topical sections, which are actively present at the corresponding annual assemblies.
The Hadley and Walker Circulations are fundamental regulators of the Earth's energy budget. Although the Hadley Circulation is a well-known concept, surprisingly little attention has been paid to understanding both short and long-term variability of the system. This book reviews current knowledge of Hadley and Walker circulation dynamics and their interactions with the major global monsoon systems, and evaluates paleoclimatic records within the domain of the Hadley Circulation that shed light on past variability of climate over the last 1000 years, the Holocene (the last 11,500 years), glacial periods, and warm climate periods in the past. The book examines potentially important factors that may have affected the Hadley and Walker Circulations on these different time scales and evaluates changes in the Hadley Circulation and the monsoons as simulated by coupled models of past climate conditions, and predicted future conditions under an enhanced greenhouse effect. This book is meant to serve as a fundamental reference work for current and future researchers, graduate students in the atmospheric sciences and geosciences, and climate specialists involved in interdisciplinary research.
Part of the excitement in boundary-layer meteorology is the challenge associated with turbulent flow - one of the unsolved problems in classical physics. An additional attraction of the filed is the rich diversity of topics and research methods that are collected under the umbrella-term of boundary-layer meteorology. The flavor of the challenges and the excitement associated with the study of the atmospheric boundary layer are captured in this textbook. Fundamental concepts and mathematics are presented prior to their use, physical interpretations of the terms in equations are given, sample data are shown, examples are solved, and exercises are included. The work should also be considered as a major reference and as a review of the literature, since it includes tables of parameterizatlons, procedures, filed experiments, useful constants, and graphs of various phenomena under a variety of conditions. It is assumed that the work will be used at the beginning graduate level for students with an undergraduate background in meteorology, but the author envisions, and has catered for, a heterogeneity in the background and experience of his readers.
This book provides an updated overview of the processes determining the influence of solar forcing on climate. It discusses in particular the most recent developments regarding the role of aerosols in the climate system and the new insights that could be gained from the investigation of terrestrial climate analogues. The book 's structure mirrors that of the ISSI workshop held in Bern in June 2005.
Since the beginning of industrialization in the last century, a steady increase in energy consumption can be observed. At the same time, energy generation switched from wood and coal to predominantly oil, coal and natural gas. Soon, many countries became aware of the fact that the resources of fossil fuels, especially of oil and natural gas are finite. Diversification of energy sources became a requirement for the future. Governments expressed their concern by setting up natural energy programmes while international organisations undertook assessments of the global energy resources and possible rates of supply and substitution. When it comes to setting up energy policies, the following factors must be taken into consideration: population growth, level and nature of socio-economic activity, the costs of energy, the adequacy and reliability of supply, the availability of technology and supporting infrastructure, the success of energy conservation programmes and concern about the environment, safety aspects of production and use of energy as well as educational efforts toward a rational use of energy. When we express our most urgent concern, the long-term global energy provision, experts offer four interrelated partial strategies: - the strategy of rational use and conservation of energy - the strategy of using renewable energy sources - the coal strategy including coal gasification and liquefaction - the nuclear power strategy. Any strategy, however, for securing future energy supply has, from my point of view, to be thoroughly examined as to its impact on the environment. |
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