Clouds have been the object of fascination throughout history, their fleeting magnificence and endless variability providing food for thought for scientists and daydreamers alike. Clouds may have many individual shapes, but there are a few basic forms. In this definitive guide to the clouds and the skies, Richard Hamblyn introduces you to all the different cloud species. The Cloud Book will enable you to identify individual clouds, skies and phenomena. You will also be able to track their likely changes over time and predict the implications they have for the weather you may experience. Produced in association with the Met Office - the world's premier weather forecasting bureau - all things to do with the origin and development of a cloud are here. Whether you are looking at a giant cumulonimbus or a tiny shred of stratus factus, an everyday occurrence or a fleeting rarity, your cloud-spotting will be expertly informed and much more satisfying with this handy reference guide. The Cloud Book includes a detailed introduction on the history of cloud classification and is illustrated with stunning images from around the globe. Take it with you on walks and have it handy in the garden so that you can enjoy sky-gazing every day. This is the only guide to cloud classification that you will ever need and is the ideal daytime partner for our must-have book on the night sky - The Star Book by Peter Grego.

Climate Responsive Design provides a unique source for students and practising architects requiring guidance on climatic design. Covering theory and application it provides examples of innovative and best practice in 'responsive architecture' through case studies. The book also covers the broader topic of technology as a generator in design which will be of interest to all those involved in design and building. The book focuses on tropical climate but some of the theory can be applied to other climates; the difference in application is clearly delineated.

Our current climate is strongly influenced by atmospheric composition, and changes in this composition are leading to climate change. Physics of Radiation and Climate takes a look at how the outward flow of longwave or terrestrial radiation is affected by the complexities of the atmosphere's molecular spectroscopy. This book examines the planet in its current state and considers the radiation fluxes, including multiple scattering, photochemistry, and the ozone layer, and their impact on our climate overall. Starting from the physical fundamentals of how electromagnetic radiation interacts with the various components of the Earth's atmosphere, the book covers the essential radiation physics leading to the radiative transfer equation. The book then develops the central physics of the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and gases and particles: absorption, emission, and scattering. It examines the physics that describes the absorption and emission of radiation, using quantum mechanics, and scattering, using electromagnetism. It also dedicates a detailed chapter to aerosols, now recognized as a key factor of climate change. Written to be used for a first course in climate physics or a physics elective, the text contains case studies, sample problems, and an extensive reference list as a guide for further research. In addition, the authors: Provide a complete derivation of molecular spectroscopy from quantum mechanical first principles Present a formal derivation of the scattering of radiation by molecules and particles Include the latest results from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5) Physics of Radiation and Climate shows how radiation measurements are used to aid our understanding of weather and climate change and provides an introduction to the atmosphere. This book covers the key branches of physics with a specific focus on thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and quantum mechanics.

As the need for accurate and non-invasive optical characterization and diagnostic techniques is rapidly increasing, it is imperative to find improved ways of extracting the additional information contained within the measured parameters of the scattered light. This is the first specialized monograph on photopolarimetry, a rapidly developing, multidisciplinary topic with numerous military, ecological remote-sensing, astrophysical, biomedical, and technological applications. The main objective is to describe and discuss techniques developed in various disciplines to acquire useful information from the polarization signal of scattered electromagnetic waves. It focuses on the state-of-the-art in polarimetric detection, characterization, and remote sensing, including military and environmental monitoring as well as terrestrial, atmospheric, and biomedical characterization. The book identifies polarimetric techniques that have been especially successful for various applications as well as the future needs of the various research communities. The monograph is intended to facilitate cross-pollination of ideas and thereby improve research efficiency and help advance the field of polarimetry into the future. The book is thoroughly interdisciplinary and contains only invited review chapters written by leading experts in the respective fields. It will be useful to science professionals, engineers, and graduate students working in a broad range of disciplines: optics, electromagnetics, atmospheric radiation and remote sensing, radar meteorology, oceanography, climate research, astrophysics, optical engineering and technology, particle characterization, and biomedical optics.

In the two decades bracketing the turn of the millennium, large-scale weather disasters have been inevitably constructed as media events. As such, they challenge the meaning of concepts such as identity and citizenship for both locally affected populations and widespread spectator communities. This timely collection pinpoints the features of an often overlooked yet rapidly expanding category of global media and analyzes both its forms and functions. Specifically, contributors argue that the intense promotion and consumption of 'extreme weather' events takes up the slack for the public conversations society is not having about the environment, and the feeling of powerlessness that accompanies the realization that anthropogenic climate change has now reached a point of no return. Incorporating a range of case studies of extreme weather mediation in India, the UK, Germany, Sweden, the US, and Japan, and exploring recent and ongoing disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the Fukushima nuclear crisis, flooding in Germany, and heat waves in the UK, Extreme Weather and Global Media generates valuable inquiry into the representational and social characteristics of the new culture of extreme weather.

This book is the first comprehensive introduction to the theory of equatorially-confined waves and currents in the ocean. Among the topics treated are inertial and shear instabilities, wave generation by coastal reflection, semiannual and annual cycles in the tropic sea, transient equatorial waves, vertically-propagating beams, equatorial Ekman layers, the Yoshida jet model, generation of coastal Kelvin waves from equatorial waves by reflection, Rossby solitary waves, and Kelvin frontogenesis. A series of appendices on midlatitude theories for waves, jets and wave reflections add further material to assist the reader in understanding the differences between the same phenomenon in the equatorial zone versus higher latitudes.

Life on our planet depends upon having a climate that changes within narrow limits - not too hot for the oceans to boil away nor too cold for the planet to freeze over. Over the past billion years Earth's average temperature has stayed close to 14-15 DegreesC, oscillating between warm greenhouse states and cold icehouse states. We live with variation, but a variation with limits. Paleoclimatology is the science of understanding and explaining those variations, those limits, and the forces that control them. Without that understanding we will not be able to foresee future change accurately as our population grows. Our impact on the planet is now equal to a geological force, such that many geologists now see us as living in a new geological era - the Anthropocene. Paleoclimatology describes Earth's passage through the greenhouse and icehouse worlds of the past 800 million years, including the glaciations of Snowball Earth in a world that was then free of land plants. It describes the operation of the Earth's thermostat, which keeps the planet fit for life, and its control by interactions between greenhouse gases, land plants, chemical weathering, continental motions, volcanic activity, orbital change and solar variability. It explains how we arrived at our current understanding of the climate system, by reviewing the contributions of scientists since the mid-1700s, showing how their ideas were modified as science progressed. And it includes reflections based on the author's involvement in palaeoclimatic research. The book will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about future climate change. It will be an invaluable course reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students in geology, climatology, oceanography and the history of science. "A real tour-de-force! An outstanding summary not only of the science and what needs to be done, but also the challenges that are a consequence of psychological and cultural baggage that threatens not only the survival of our own species but the many others we are eliminating as well." Peter Barrett Emeritus Professor of Geology, Antarctic Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand "What a remarkable and wonderful synthesis... it will be a wonderful source of [paleoclimate] information and insights." Christopher R. Scotese Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

Methane is an important greenhouse gas that can cause global warming. The present concentrations of methane are nearly three times higher than several hundred years ago. Today, more than 60% of the atmospheric methane comes from human activities, including rice agriculture, coal mining, natural gas usage, biomass burning, and raising of cattle. Methane affects the stratospheric ozone layer and the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere, which in turn control the concentrations of many man-made and natural gases in the atmosphere. This book brings together our knowledge of the trends and the causes behind the increased levels of methane. Based on the scientific information on the sources and sinks, and the role of methane in global warming, strategies to limit emissions can be designed as part of a program to control future global warming.

Cirrus clouds are high, thin, tropospheric clouds composed predominately of ice. In the last ten years, considerable work has shown that cirrus is widespread--more common than previously believed--and has a signigicant impact on climate and global change. As the next generation weather satellites are being designed, the impact of cirrus on remote sensing and the global energy budget must be recognized and accommodated. This book, the first to be devoted entirely to cirrus clouds, captures the state of knowledge of cirrus and serves as a practical handbook as well. Each chapter is based on an invited review talk presented at Cirrus, a meeting hosted by the Optical Society of America and co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. All aspects of cirrus clouds are covered, an approach that reaches into diverse fields. Topics include: the definition of cirrus, cirrus climatologies, nucleation, evolution and dissipation, mixed-phase thermodynamics, crystallinity, orientation mechanisms, dynamics, scattering, radiative transfer, in situ sampling, processes that produce or influence cirrus (and vice versa), contrails, and the influence of cirrus on climate.

The chapters in this book explore the range of physical and social attributes that have shaped and re-shaped our landscapes through time. International authors have contributed the latest results of investigating ancient landscapes (or "palaeolandscapes") in diverse settings of tropical forests, deserts, river deltas, remote islands, coastal zones, and continental interiors. The case studies embrace a liberal approach of combining archaeological evidence with other avenues of research in earth sciences, biology, and social relations. The chapters offer new perspectives on what the world's palaeolandscapes looked like, how people lived in these places, and how communities have engaged with long-term change in their natural and cultural environments though successive centuries and millennia. This book reaches across archaeology, ecology, geography, and broader studies of human-environment relations that will appeal to general readers. Specialists and students in these fields will find extra value in the primary datasets and in the new ideas and perspectives. It also provides unique examples from the past, toward understanding the workings of sustainable landscape systems.

This book offers an overview of advanced techniques to study atmospheric dynamics by numerical experimentation. It is primarily intended for scientists and graduate students working on interdisciplinary research problems at the intersection of the atmospheric sciences, applied mathematics, statistics and physics. Scientists interested in adopting techniques from the atmospheric sciences to study other complex systems may also find most of the topics covered in the book interesting. The specific techniques covered in the book have either proven or potential value in solving practical problems of atmospheric dynamics.

The Weather Channel helps us stay informed about daily meteorological events, but for a macro view of the hot topics, key individuals, and notable occurrences in the field of meteorology turn to this interesting and informative review of the most recent advances and discoveries. Useful statistics as well as articles about weather hazards, new technologies that help predict the weather, and how the climate is changing make this a handy ready reference and excellent source for recommended print and electronic resources for further study field. Students considering a career in the field will find information about education and training and professional associations.

Examining a series of El Nino-induced droughts and the famines that they spawned around the globe in the last third of the 19th century, Mike Davis discloses the intimate, baleful relationship between imperial arrogance and natural incident that combined to produce some of the worst tragedies in human history. Late Victorian Holocausts focuses on three zones of drought and subsequent famine: India, Northern China; and Northeastern Brazil. All were affected by the same global climatic factors that caused massive crop failures, and all experienced brutal famines that decimated local populations. But the effects of drought were magnified in each case because of singularly destructive policies promulgated by different ruling elites. Davis argues that the seeds of underdevelopment in what later became known as the Third World were sown in this era of High Imperialism, as the price for capitalist modernization was paid in the currency of millions of peasants' lives.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It provides policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of human-induced climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation. This IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) is the most comprehensive and up-to-date scientific assessment of the multiple interactions between climate change and land, assessing climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. It assesses the options for governance and decision-making across multiple scales. It serves policymakers, decision makers, stakeholders, and all interested parties with unbiased, up-to-date, policy-relevant information. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

This book focuses on the application of virtual reality (VR) technology in mining machinery. It gives a detailed introduction to the application of VR technology in virtual assembly, virtual planning, and virtual monitoring. Based on the theory of digital twin, VR technology and collaborative control technology are applied to coal mining machinery equipment, which lays a foundation for the digitalization and intellectualization of coal machinery equipment and broadens the application scope of virtual reality technology in the mechanical engineering field. Through the application of VR technology in coal machinery equipment, this book provides new methods and ideas for teaching activities, scientific research activities, and actual production with rich illustrations, related table introduction, unique research ideas, and other unique contents. This book could be a useful reference for researchers in mining machinery, simulation and modeling, computer-aided engineering (CAD and CAE) and design, visualization, mechanical engineering, and other disciplines.

Some issues addressed in this Working Group III volume are mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, managing biological carbon reservoirs, geo-engineering, costing methods, and decision-making frameworks.

This first comprehensive review of airborne measurement principles covers all atmospheric components and surface parameters. It describes the common techniques to characterize aerosol particles and cloud/precipitation elements, while also explaining radiation quantities and pertinent hyperspectral and active remote sensing measurement techniques along the way. As a result, the major principles of operation are introduced and exemplified using specific instruments, treating both classic and emerging measurement techniques.
The two editors head an international community of eminent scientists, all of them accepted and experienced specialists in their field, who help readers to understand specific problems related to airborne research, such as immanent uncertainties and limitations. They also provide guidance on the suitability of instruments to measure certain parameters and to select the correct type of device.
While primarily intended for climate, geophysical and atmospheric researchers, its relevance to solar system objects makes this work equally appealing to astronomers studying atmospheres of solar system bodies with telescopes and space probes.

The Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the majority of industrialised countries is the first small step on the way to an effective climate policy. In the long-term, climate policy will call for greater GHG reductions and the full participation of the global community. The five integrated chapters of this book review theoretical findings and empirical evidence in the search for the right incentives which could induce firms and governments to undertake GHG abatement measures. This book analyses the policy mixes that provide the best possible incentives for firms and governments to act on climate change and sign up to international climate agreements. In doing so, the authors address a multitude of related issues including the linkages between flexible mechanisms and voluntary agreements; regulation and taxation; the opportunities and barriers of the Kyoto Protocol for industry; and the incentives for firms to undertake climate-related R&D and investments. As well as illustrating the environmental benefits and cost-effectiveness of alternative policy mixes in reducing GHG emissions, the authors also offer sensible policy prescriptions for increasing the numbers of countries that ratify and implement climate agreements. Environmental and resource economists, environmental scientists, climate analysts and policymakers should all read this book which offers an authoritative contribution to what is arguably the most critical contemporary environmental policy issue.

Provides a thought-provoking and original approach to the science of climate. Emphasizes that there are many factors contributing to the causation of climate change. Clarifies that while anthropogenic generation of carbon dioxide is important it is only one of several human activities contributing to climate change. Considers climate change responses needed to be undertaken by politicians and society at national and global levels. Totally revised and updated with state of the art satellite data and climate models currently in operation around the globe.

For more than three decades, the US Standard Atmosphere has been used by researchers and professionals in many areas of aeronautics and atmospheric sciences. It is an idealized, all season average temperature profile of the earth's atmosphere. But today's modern day and sophisticated global applications require more extensive representations of the mean temperature profile. This book is a global augmentation of the climatological tropospheric temperature profiles in the Northern Hemisphere for different latitude belts and seasons. There are 72 mean temperature profile tables from the surface up to 10 kilometers in height that represent the four seasons for different latitudinal belts (5 Degrees N, 10 Degrees N , 15 Degrees N, 20 Degrees N, 25 Degrees N, 30 Degrees N, 35 Degrees N, 40 Degrees N, 45 Degrees N, 50 Degrees N, 55 Degrees N, 60 Degrees N, 65 Degrees N, 70 Degrees N, 75 Degrees N, 80 Degrees N, 85 Degrees N). The model is based on a neural network algorithm that uses archived radiosonde data, retrieved temperature profiles from remote sensors, and the solar insolation at the top of the earth's atmosphere. It is the most comprehensive book of mean seasonal tropospheric temperature profiles to date. It will be an indispensible reference to the aeronautic and meteorological industries worldwide as well as an easy-to-use guide for climatologists, meteorologists, aeronautic engineers, researchers and aviators.

Originally published in 1955 Atmospheric Turbulence examines dynamic meteorology and the fundamental part it plays in the overall science of meteorology. The book examines the theory of atmospheric turbulence as a more mathematically developed area than largescale motions of the atmosphere and examines its significance in economic, military and industrial spheres. The book focuses on the effect and importance of atmospheric turbulence, not only to meteorologists, but the designers of large aircraft. The book addresses the effects of turbulence and the properties of the atmosphere that can be found closer to the ground. This book will be of interest to atmospheric physicists and meteorologists.

This book provides historical perspectives on the climate apprehensions of scientists and the general public from the Englightenment to the late twentieth century. Issues discussed include what people have understood, experienced, and feared about the climate and its changes in the past; how privileged and authoritative positions on climate have been established; the paths by which we have arrived at our current state of knowledge and apprehension; and what a study of the past has to offer to the interdisciplinary investigation of environmental problems.

The Handbook of Meteorology gives specialists and non-specialists alike a clear understanding of the way our weather functions. It provides scientific answers to questions that arise when looking at the world around us. It starts with the basics of weather-temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind-before moving on to cover highs, lows, fronts, and storms, and finally ending with a look at weather forecasts, cloud watching, weather tools, and much more. The Handbook of Meteorology provides a condensed but all-inclusive broad sweep of meteorology, employing several illustrations to translate detailed technical information into terms that everyone can follow and readily refer to. It is a comprehensive reference for any budding meteorologist or environmental professional in the field, laboratory, or classroom.

First published in 1972, this first volume of Professor Lamb's study of our changing climate deals with the fundamentals of climate and climatology, as well as providing global data on the contemporary climates of the twentieth century.