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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Meteorology > General
This book introduces systematically the application of Bayesian probabilistic approach in soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering. Four typical problems are analyzed by using Bayesian probabilistic approach, i.e., to model the effect of initial void ratio on the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) of unsaturated soil, to select the optimal model for the prediction of the creep behavior of soft soil under one-dimensional straining, to identify model parameters of soils and to select constitutive model of soils considering critical state concept. This book selects the simple and easy-to-understand Bayesian probabilistic algorithm, so that readers can master the Bayesian method to analyze and solve the problem in a short time. In addition, this book provides MATLAB codes for various algorithms and source codes for constitutive models so that readers can directly analyze and practice. This book is useful as a postgraduate textbook for civil engineering, hydraulic engineering, transportation, railway, engineering geology and other majors in colleges and universities, and as an elective course for senior undergraduates. It is also useful as a reference for relevant professional scientific researchers and engineers.
"Big freeze" conditions, storms, severe flooding, droughts, and heatwaves - recent extremes in weather, with their resultant physical, economic and human losses, highlight the vulnerability of society to changes in the atmosphere. Atmospheric pollution, urbanization, natural atmospheric disasters are causing dramatic changes in climatic environments. This study examines the effects of climate on physical, biological and cultural environments. Specialist contributors from Europe, North America and Australasia examine the impacts of changing climates on the functioning and development of physical biological environments including glaciers, water resources, landforms, soils, vegetation and animals. Weather and climate effects day-to-day activities and lifestyles from the clothes we wear to the buildings we design, and the food and energy we produce. This book focuses on the relationship between climate and a wide range of human activities and responses relating to health and comfort, building design, transport systems, agriculture and fisheries, tourism and social, industrial and legal issues.
Contents - Preface - 1 Historical survey - 2 The thunderstorm - 2.1. Global distribution of thunderstorms - 2.2. The thundercloud - 2.3. Point-discharge currents - 3. The lightning discharge - 3.1. Temporal development of flash to ground - 3.2. Strokes to tall structures - 3.3. Lightning currents and related parameters - 3.4. Frequency of lightning discharges - 4. The lightning conductor - 4.1. Mechanism of strike - 4.2. Striking distance - 4.3. Protective zone - 4.4. Radio-active lightning conductors - 4.5. Frequency of strikes to a structure - 5 Principles of protection - 5.1 Need for protection - 5.2. Design considerations - 5.3. Thermal considerations - 5.4. Mechanical considerations - 5.5. Electrical considerations - 6. Materials and dimensions - 6.1. Conductors for use above ground - 6.2. Conductors for use below ground - 6.3. Corrosion - Lightning Protection - 7. Protective systems for domestic, industrial and public structures - 7.1. Air-termination network - 7.2. Down conductors - 7.3. Earth-termination network - 7.4. Earth electrodes - 7.5. Joints - 7.6. Metal components on and in buildings - 7.7. Sound and television aerials - 7.8. Electricity supply and telephone installations - 7.9. Structures with flammable roofs and farm buildings - 8. Protection of tall structures - 8.1. High-rise buildings - 8.2. Chimneys and cooling towers - 8.3. Churches and monuments - 8.4. Telecommunication structures - 9 Protection of danger structures - 9.1. General considerations - 9.2. Structures above ground - 9.3. Structures below ground - 9.4. Mining and blasting - 9.5. Aircraft - 9.6. Warning devices - 10. Protection of miscellaneous structures - 10.1. Temporary structures - 10.2. Mobile structures - 10.3. Agricultural objects - 10.4. Structures on rock - 10.5. Playing fields and public highways - 10.6. Trees - 10.7. Ships and boats - 11. Maintenance - 11.1. General considerations - 11.2. Test methods - 11.3. Inspection and records - 12. Protection of persons and animals - 12.1. Effects of lightning currents - 12.2. Protection in the open - 12.3. Protection indoors - 12.4. Lightning casualties and resuscitation - 13. Postscript - Appendix - National Codes considered in text - References - Author Index - Subject Index - Contents -
How is a changing climate affecting hurricanes, and how are these changes intersecting with our changing exposure and vulnerability in ways that affect tropical cyclone risk? Crucially, how should this understanding be incorporated into risk management practice? This book takes a cross-sectoral look at how damaging tropical cyclone characteristics are changing and presents novel approaches to integrate science with risk assessment. In this new era of tropical cyclone impacts, understanding effective risk management practice in a changing climate is more important than ever. This book details the outcomes of new research focusing on climate risk related to hurricanes in a changing climate. Topics include characteristics of tropical cyclone risk, perspectives on hurricane risk management strategies in the built environment, and implications for commercial risk. Inspired by the Symposium on Hurricane Risk in a Changing Climate, this book brings together leading international academics and researchers, and provides a source reference for both risk managers and climate scientists for research on the interface between tropical cyclones, climate, and risk. 8 chapters are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
The book provides an understanding about the disaster impacts, vulnerability assessment, adaptation pathways and mitigation for strengthening the resilience of the society to various hazards. Multi- dimensionality of disasters is depicted by various approaches and effective modelling. The book is a synthesis of research papers presented at online International Conference on the theme organized by the Centre for Disaster management, Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia in collaboration with National Institute of Disaster Management and Regional Remote Sensing Centre (North), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), New Delhi, India during 02-03 March, 2021. The book has been organized into four parts spreading over 28 chapters. Part I deals with the impact assessment of various disasters. Part II examined ecological and socio-economic vulnerability arising out of the disasters. Part III identifies possible solutions for lessening vulnerability to disasters and effective adaptation strategies. Finally, part IV provides an insight for making the societies resilient to the disasters. The main focus of each chapter was laid implicitly on policy concerns focusing on disaster reduction at spatial scales. The book will immensely be helpful for the researchers, academicians and scientific communities for discussing set of questions necessary for future research. It will attract the attention of functionaries, practitioners, policy makers, training institutes and stakeholders for making appropriate methods of communicating risks and adaptation strategies for disaster management.
The US Department of Commerce estimates that nearly 10% of the US's $9 trillion GDP is exposed to weather risk. All over the world providers and end users are recognizing this fact and are turning their attention to ways of protecting against or taking advantage of changes in the weather. This book explores a market that is expected to expand rapidly and is one of the fastest areas of growth in the financial arena.
The physical and chemical properties and processes of clouds are of great interest from a variety of perspectives, such as acid deposition, oxidant chemistry, and radiative transfer in the atmosphere. The Kleiner Feldberg Cloud Experiment was conducted in October--November 1990 at the field observatory of Kleiner Feldberg near Frankfurt, Germany, in the Taunus Highlands. The experiment was planned and organized within the EUROTRAC sub- project GCE (Ground-Based Cloud Experiment). The general aim of this project is to experimentally investigate physical and chemical processes occurring in ground-based clouds, to provide the basic information needed to understand the incorporation and transformation of trace atmospheric constituents within the multiphase cloud system. This book reports the results of the Kleiner Feldberg Cloud Experiment, addressing the main scientific questions related to the properties of clouds and the processes taking place in the cloud multiphase system. How are the different atmospheric trace species partitioned between gas phase, interstitial aerosols, cloud droplets? What kind of physical and chemical processes cause changes in the phase partitioning of trace species within clouds? Which interactions can be found between the microphysical and dynamical processes in clouds and the chemical composition of cloud droplets? Is the chemical composition of cloud droplets size-dependent, as can be expected by the different scavenging processes? Which influence do chemical reactions have on cloud water chemical composition? Does the gas/liquid partitioning in cloud obey Henry's law? How important is the deposition of atmospheric trace substances due to cloud dropletinterception with the Earth's surface? Are the sampling techniques for aerosols and cloud droplets reliable with respect to their chemical composition? This book provides updated information on cloud research to scientists involved in other fields of atmospheric sciences and also useful reference material for graduate students enrolled in atmospheric chemistry programmes.
In this thesis, a new lidar (light detection and ranging) ceilometer capable of monitoring cloud base and sensitive to boundary layer aerosols is introduced. The key to this novelty lies in its divided-lens design that addresses a classical lidar problem of balancing transmitter-receiver overlap and signal-to-noise ratio, along with a method for characterizing overlap in the laboratory. Enhanced sensitivity in the near-range of the instrument is achieved without compromising signal-to-noise in a design that is straightforward to manufacture for broad deployment. The instrument, its optical characterization, and its performance in the field are described. The prototype instrument described here has since formed the basis of a commercial sensor for monitoring clouds and aerosols. High-resolution, continuous observations of clouds and aerosols are needed to reduce the large uncertainties in our current understanding of their influence on climate that have been highlighted by the International Panel on Climate Change. And as international health organizations indicate growing public health threats over the coming decades resulting from poor air quality, extensive aerosol monitoring is required to assess personal exposure to and the health impacts of anthropogenic particulates. Ground-based optical remote sensing measurements made by well-characterized instruments, such as that described in these pages, are critical to this.
An Introduction to Numerical Weather Prediction Techniques is unique in the meteorological field as it presents for the first time theories and software of complex dynamical and physical processes required for numerical modeling. It was first prepared as a manual for the training of the World Meteorological Organization's programs at a similar level. This new book updates these exercises and also includes the latest data sets.
The development of numerical integration techniques and the pioneering efforts of Von Neumann and his associates at the Institute for Advanced Studies (Princeton) have spurred the renewed interest of many leading fluid dynamicists and meteorologists in the theory and numerical simulation of planetary atmosphere and oceans circulations. Their work during the last 15 years, now culminating in the Global Atmospheric Research Program, has led to the possibility of vastly improved weather forecasts as wei I as the development of a ful I fledged branch of the physical sciences: geophysical fluid dynamics. Simultaneously, great strides have been made in developing new instruments, operating from earth orbiting satel I ites, to powerful observe the meteorological phenomena and to determine the state of motion of the atmosphere. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France has very significantly contributed to this effort by developing the EOLE navigation and data collection satell ite, launched on 16 August 1971 to interrogate 500 instrumented platforms measuring meteorological para meters. It is fitting then, that CNES should have brought together lead ing scientists in the field of dynamic meteorology, to participate in its 1970 Summer School on Space Physics."
Prof. Leon Mestel has been an inspiration to many to study the role of magnetism in the Cosmos. To mark the occasion of his retin'ment from the University of Sussex after 43 years in astrophysics, several of his friends and former students decided to hold an advanced research workshop in his honour. NATO agreed to finance this venture which was held at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge. The scientific organizing committee was J. Landstreet, D. Lynden-Bell, F. Pacini, M.A. Rud0rman and N.O. Weiss and most leading experts on Cosmical magnetism agreed to come. We are particularly grateful to Lyman Spitzer who, ably helped by his wife Doreen, !!;ave the after dinner addre~s on how the goddess Astrophysica had foreseen Leon's achievements in classical Greek times. Not without regret we decided to maintain the homog0neity of the material and therefore could not cover Leon Mestel's major achievements in non-magnetic astronomy. His work on the cooling of white dwarfs, his understanding that degenerate hydrogen was a nuclear explosive since its pressure was almost independent of temperature and hence, his picture of supernovae, which is now more commonly applied to novae, his seminal understanding of the 'law' of galactic rotation and his work on the non-linear development of t hp anisotropies generated in gravitational collapse.
In Resilience: The Science of Adaptation to Climate Change leading experts analyze and question ongoing adaptation interventions. Contributions span different disciplinary perspectives, from law to engineering, and cover different regions from Africa to the Pacific. Chapters assess the need for adaptation, highlighting climate change impacts such as sea level rise, increases in temperature, changing hydrological variability, and threats to food security. The book then discusses the state of global legislation and means of tracking progress. It reviews ways to build resilience in a range of contexts- from the Arctic, to small island states, to urban areas, across food and energy systems. Critical tools for adaptation planning are highlighted - from social capital and ethics, to decision support systems, to innovative finance and risk transfer mechanisms. Controversies related to geoengineering and migration are also discussed. This book is an indispensable resource for scientists, practitioners, and policy makers working in climate change adaptation, sustainable development, ecosystem management, and urban planning.
The Forest Primary Production Research Group was born in the Department of S- viculture, University of Helsinki in the early 1970s. Intensive ?eld measurements of photosynthesis and growth of forest vegetation and use of dynamic models in the interpretation of the results were characteristic of the research in the group. Electric instrumentation was based on analogue techniques and the analysis of the obtained measurements was based on self-written programs. Joint research projects with the Research Group of Environmental Physics at the Department of Physics, lead by Taisto Raunemaa (1939-2006) started in the late 1970s. The two research groups shared the same quantitative methodology, which made the co-operation fruitful. Since 1980 until the collapse of the Soviet Union the Academy of Finland and the Soviet Academy of Sciences had a co-operation program which included our team. The research groups in Tartu, Estonia, lead by Juhan Ross (1925-2002) and in Petrozawodsk, lead by Leo Kaipiainen (1932-2004) were involved on the Soviet side. We had annual ?eld measuring campaigns in Finland and in Soviet Union and research seminars. The main emphasis was on developing forest growth models. The research of Chernobyl fallout started a new era in the co-operation between forest ecologists and physicists in Helsinki. The importance of material ?uxes was realized and introduced explicitly in the theoretical thinking and measurements.
This book provides the world community with the most up-to-date and comprehensive scientific and technical knowledge based on climate change impact assessment, adaptation and mitigation strategies in the Indian Himalayan region. It identifies major issues related to climate change on environmental sustainability, focusing on impact measurement, policy, adaptation and mitigation strategies at national, regional and local scales. There is a need to strengthen the global response in order to cope with the threat of climate change. The main objective of this book is to update the understanding of scientific analysis and to promote evidence-based policy formulation at regional and local levels. This book on climate change is used as a reference material to climate change for new learners interested in the mountainous region of the Indian Himalayas. This comprehensive book covers a wide range of potential research areas including climate change scenarios, science and its applications, adaptation to climate change theory and assessment, water resources, agriculture, human health, forest, biodiversity, ecosystems, indigenous knowledge, etc.
The effects of meteorological phenomena upon forest produc tivity and forestry operations have been of concern for many years. With the evolution of system-level studies of forest eco system structure and function in the International Biological Program and elsewhere, more fundamental interactions between forest ecosystems and the atmosphere received scientific atten tion but the emphasis on meteorological and climatological effects on forest processes remained. More recently, as recogni tion has developed of potential and actual problems associated with the atmospheric transport, dispersion, and deposition of airborne pollutants, the effects of forest canopies upon boundary-layer meteorological phenomena has come under scientific scrutiny. Looking to the future, with rising atmospheric con centrations of C02 and increasing competition for the finite fresh-water resources of the earth, interest in the role of forests in global C02 and water balances can also be expected to intensify. Thus, the nature of forest canopy-atmosphere interac tions, that is to say, the meteorological phenomena occurring in and above forest canopies, are of importance to a wide variety of scientific and social-issues. Demands for forest meteorological information currently exceed levels of knowledge and given the economic constraints of science in general and environmental sciences in particular, chances for major improvements in scien tific support in the near future are slim. Unfortunately, studies of environmental phenomena in and above forests are costly and logistically difficult. Trees, the ecological dominants of forest ecosystems, are the largest of all terrestrial organisms."
This collection of peer reviewed papers represents a concise, up-to-date summary of our current knowledge of planetary boundary layer (PBL) physics and parameterization. As such, it makes a major contribution to the interchange of knowledge and ideas between physicists, meteorologists and environmental modellers and sets out the course to be followed in subsequent research to improve PBL parameterizations in climate, numerical weather prediction, air quality, and emergency preparedness models. Major themes covered are: Nature and theory of turbulent boundary layers; Boundary layer flows a" modelling and applications to environmental security; Nature, theory and modelling of boundary-layer flows; and Air flows within and above urban and other complex canopies a" air-sea-ice interactions. The NATO Advanced Research Workshop, held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, 18-22 April 2006, that gave rise to this, book was attended by 57 scientists drawn from 21 countries on four continents. In recognition of his outstanding career and reaching the milestone age of 70, the workshop was dedicated to Professor Sergej Zilitinkevitch and a substantial number of contributions are based on or linked to his fundamental work.
The book presents a collection of articles devoted to atmospheric and ionospheric science reported during the Conference "Atmosphere, Ionosphere, Safety" held in Kaliningrad, Russia in July 2010. It consists of reviews devoted to physics of elementary processes, aerosols, ionosphere dynamics, microwave discharges and plasmoids. Such a wide range of topics presents a comprehensive analysis of this atmospheric science including trends and questions which exist to be solved.
Unique properties of laser radiation including its monochromatic properties, polarization, high spectral intensity, coherence, narrow beam divergence, the possibility of controlling the pulse duration and radiation spectrum and, finally, the fact that extremely high power and energy create very favorable conditions for the extensive application of lasers to communi cation systems, systems for the lidar sensing and ultra-high-precision ranging, navigation, remote monitoring of the environment, and many other systems operating in the atmosphere. The operative efficiency of the above systems depends significantly on the state of the atmosphere and the corresponding behavior of laser radia tion propagating through it. This circumstance has stimulated the studies of the above regularities during the passt 10-15 years. For the investiga tions to be carried out the scientists were forced to develop new theories and methods for studying the problem experimentally. Moreover, during such investigations some previously unknown phenomena were observed, among them the nonlinear effects accompanying high-power laser radiation propagating through the atmosphere are of paramount importance. Among the nonlinear effects caused by high-power laser radiation inter action with the atmosphere, the effects accompanying the propagation of high-power radiation through the atmospheric aerosols are of particular interest. Aerosols always occur in the atmosphere. It should be noted that the microphysical and optical characteristics of atmospheric aerosols vary widely, this fact causes a great variety in the features of their inter action with radiation."
During the last 20 years the study of, and the prediction of, changes in the climate of our planet have become an urgent social imperative, addressed to scientists the world over. The first principles on which to base such a study were formulated in 1974 in Stockholm, at the international GARP conference on the physical fundamentals of climate theory and climate modeling. In 1979 the World Meteorological Organization and the International Council of Scientific Unions decided to conduct a global program of climate research. This World Climate Program is designed mainly to investigate the variability of the climate on time scales ranging from a few weeks to a few decades and to create a scientific basis for the long-term forecasting of weather. There is at present a definite need for a monograph which can serve as an introduction to the theory of climate. On a qualitative level (without the apparatus of theoretical physics and mathematics) such an introduction has already been presented, in Part I of a book on the history of climate by Yu. A. Shishkov and the author (Monin and Shishkov, 1979). Part II of that work gives factual data on climatic changes during the course of the Earth's history. The present book is designed to provide such an introduction on a quantita tive level."
This book describes the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of waste management and environmental geomechanics as presented by leading researchers, engineers and practitioners at the International Conference on Sustainable Waste Management through Design (IC_SWMD), held in Ludhiana (Punjab), India on November 2-3, 2018. Providing a unique overview of new directions, and opportunities for sustainable and resilient design approaches to protect infrastructure and the environment, it discusses diverse topics related to civil engineering and construction aspects of the resource management cycle, from the minimization of waste, through the eco-friendly re-use and processing of waste materials, the management and disposal of residual wastes, to water treatments and technologies. It also encompasses strategies for reducing construction waste through better design, improved recovery, re-use, more efficient resource management and the performance of materials recovered from wastes. 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 waste management specialists.
Energy and Climate Change: An Introduction to Geological Controls, Interventions and Mitigations examines the Earth system science context of the formation and use of fossil fuel resources, and the implications for climate change. It also examines the historical and economic trends of fossil fuel usage and the ways in which these have begun to affect the natural system (i.e., the start of the Anthropocene). Finally, the book examines the effects we might expect in the future looking at evidence from the "deep time" past, and looks at ways to mitigate climate change by using negative emissions technology (e.g. bioenergy and carbon capture and storage, BECCS), but also by adapting to perhaps a higher than "two degree world," particularly in the most vulnerable, developing countries. Energy and Climate Change is an essential resource for geoscientists, climate scientists, environmental scientists, and students; as well as policy makers, energy professionals, energy statisticians, energy historians and economists.
Tropical cyclones in Southern Africa, also known as hurricanes or typhoons in other regions of the world, is a hot subject for academic research. This focus has been magnified by the need to consider tropical cyclones in the context of other global development agendas, that includes the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its inseparable 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and Habitat III's New Urban Agenda. The ambitious SDGs challenge global and community leaders to make sure development addresses the nexus among poverty, inequality and employment creation, as well as care for the earth and its natural resources and biodiversity. The SDGs further present an agenda to eradicate hunger, bring quality education and sustain water and sanitation. The infrastructure development, human settlements, sustainable consumption and production, climate change, biodiversity and the ocean (blue) economy agendas are also pitched. Lastly, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development encourages partnerships on delivering various programmes and projects at all spatial levels. However, as tropical cyclones continue to make multiple landfalls and ravage Southern Africa and other parts of the world, the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is threatened. To this end, this book addresses this gap by documenting the implications of tropical cyclones, drawing examples and case studies from recent tropical cyclones such as cyclone Idai and cyclone Kenneth that resulted in catastrophic impacts in 2019. The book comes as part of a series with three volumes. The other volumes include "Cyclones in Southern Africa Vol. 1: Interfacing the Catastrophic Impact of Cyclone Idai with SDGs in Zimbabwe" and "Cyclones in Southern Africa Vol 2: Foundational and Fundamental Topics". Given the foregoing, the book is suitable as a read for several professionals and disciplines such as tourism and hospitality studies, economics, sustainable development, development studies, environmental sciences, arts, geography, life sciences, politics, planning and public health.
Around the world, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly "the new normal" and are expected to increase in the 21st century as a result of climate change. Extreme weather events have devastating impacts on human lives and national economies. This book examines ways to protect people from hazards using early warning systems, and includes contributions from experts from four different continents representing 14 different universities, 8 government agencies and two UN agencies. Chapters detail critical components of early warning systems, ways to identify vulnerable communities, predict hazards and deliver information. Unique satellite images illustrate the transnational impact of disasters, while case studies provide detailed examples of warning systems. With contributors from the fields of economics, ethics, meteorology, geography and biology, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in disaster risk reduction or climate change. |
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