Modern seismology has faced new challenges in the study of earthquakes and their physical characteristics. This volume is dedicated to the use of new approaches and presents a state of the art in historical seismology. Selected historical and recent earthquakes are chosen to document and constrain related seismic parameters using updated methodologies in the macroseismic analysis, field observations of damage distribution and tectonic effects, and modelling of seismic waveforms. A critical re-evaluation of historical accounts and early seismograms provides us with the basis for a realistic seismic hazard assessment. This book is dedicated to the memory of Jean Vogt (1929 - 2005).

Audience This book is of value to seismologists, earthquake geologists, engineering seismologists, earth scientists and historians of catastrophes.

This useful text provides a survey of the current state of research into the physics of neutrinos. It gives a global view of the areas of physics in which neutrinos play important roles, including astrophysics and cosmology.

Coalbed gas has been considered a hazard since the early 19th century when the first mine gas explosions occurred in the United States in 1810 and France in 1845. In eastern Australia methane-related mine disasters occurred late in the 19th century with hundreds of lives lost in New South Wales, and as recently as 1995 in Queensland's Bowen Basin. Ventilation and gas drainage technologies are now in practice. However, coalbed methane recently is becoming more recognized as a potential source of energy; rather than emitting this gas to the atmosphere during drainage of gassy mines it can be captured and utilized. Both economic and environmental concerns have sparked this impetus to capture coalbed methane. The number of methane utilization projects has increased in the United States in recent years as a result, to a large extent, of development in technology in methane recovery from coal seams. Between 1994 and 1997, the number of mines in Alabama, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia recovering and utilizing methane increased from 1 0 to 17. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that close to 49 billion cubic feet (Bet) of methane was recovered in 1996, meaning that this amount was not released into the atmosphere. It is estimated that in the same year total emissions of methane equaled 45. 7 Bcf. Other coal mines are being investigated at present, many ofwhich appear to be promising for the development of cost-effective gas recovery.

The material in this book is based predominantly on my recent work. It is the first monograph on the subject, though some support material may overlap other monographs. The investigation of wave packets and their bi furcations is very interesting, and useful theoretically and in practice, not only in geophysical fluid dynamics, which is the field to which the theory is being applied here, but also in other fields in mathematics and the natural sciences. I hope that the applied mathematician will find reading this book worthwhile, especially the material on the behavior of highly nonlinear dy namic systems. However, it is my belief that applying the concepts and methods developed here to other fields will be both interesting and con structive, since there are numerous phenomena in other areas of physics that share the characteristics of those in geophysical fluid dynamics. The theory developed here provides an effective tool to investigate the structure and the structural changes of dynamic systems in physics. Applications of the theory in geophysical fluid dynamics are an example of its usefulness and effectiveness. Some of the results presented here give us more insight into the nature of geophysical fluids. Moreover, the material is presented systematically and developmentally. Necessary basic knowledge is provided to make the book more readable for graduate students and researchers in such fields as applied mathematics, geophysical fluid dynamics, atmospheric sciences, and physical oceanogra phy."

This is the best compilation of current seismic and engineering data on the seismic hazard of the capitals of the Central Asian republics available in the English language. It comes to the conclusion that the risk to residents of these cities is extremely high.

The growing number of published works dedicated to global environmental change leads to the realization that protection of the natural environment has become an urgent problem. The question of working out principles of co evolution of man and nature is being posed with ever-increasing persistence. Scientists in many countries are attempting to find ways of formulating laws governing human processes acting on the environment. Numerous national and international programs regarding biosphere and climate studies contribute to the quest for means of resolving the conflict between human society and nature. However, attempts to find efficient methods of regulating human activity on a global scale encounter principal difficulties. The major difficulty is the lack of an adequate knowledge base pertaining to climatic and biospheric processes as wen as the largely incomplete state of the databases concerning global processes occurring in the atmosphere, in the ocean, and on land. Another difficulty is the inability of modern science to formulate the requirements which must be met by the global databases necessary for reliable evaluation of the state of the environ ment and fore casting its development for sufficiently long time intervals."

Drilling deep into the earth holds a fascination for earth scientists derived in part from the fact that the drill hole is the ultimate test of a hypothesis. When surface exploration methods have been fully uti lized and all the geological inferences drawn about the structure be neath the surface, we must finally drill to sample directly the third dimension of the crust of the earth. The drill is thus the tool of choice of the energy and minerals re sources industry. Because of high cost, drilling has been only sparing ly used for solving fundamental problems in the earth sciences. But now, having used the quite sophisticated methodology of exploration geophysics, the exciting structural detail emerging from seismic re flection profiling in particular has led several nations to begin a major program of scientific drilling to solve some of the major prGb lems in the earth sciences. Hhat is described in this volume are the blueprints for national re search programs in France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan and the United States. The Soviet Union has already embarked on a major drilling effort, the results of which are soon to be published. Results, of course, are still few, and this first volume is more concerned with the problems to be solved."

This is an account of the many ways in which the Sun affects our planet, how its influence has changed over the last few centuries and millennia, and the extent to which we can predict its future impact. The book is the first to integrate astronomical, geological, climatic and social aspects of the Sun. It includes a topical treatment of solar contribution to global warming, and demonstrates how wild and variable is the so-called Solar Constant. Our nearest star is a complex machine which needs to be treated with caution, and this book will equip every reader with the knowledge that is required to understand the benefits and dangers it can bring.

Provides an introduction to petroleum exploration methods, referring to both geophysical and geochemical techniques and the logistics of various drilling techniques and well logging methods for oil and gas exploration. The second part of the book focuses on using these methods for petroleum exploration within the context of northern Africa. The geology of northern Africa is described and computerized lithographic correlation charts are presented and applied to petroleum exploration targets from the region.

In 2002 the multidisciplinary research project ''Nasca: development and adaptation of archaeometric techniques for the investigation of cultural history'' (Nasca: Entwicklung und Adaption archa]ometrischer Techniken zur Erforschung der Kulturgeschichte) started, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education andResearch(Bundesministerium fu]r Bildung und Forschung, BMBF ) in its priority program ''New scientific methods and technologies for the humanities'' (Neue Naturwissenschaftliche Methoden und Technologien fu]r die Geisteswissenschaften, NTG). This new project continued and in a certain way fulfilled a lasting goal of the ministry to integrate different branches of scientific activities and to foster the transfer of expertise gained in natural sciences to the humanities and vice versa. Archaeometry, by definition the application of scientific methods in archaeological investigation, has been a major focus of the priority program since its beginnings in 1989. After funding numerous fruitful research projects that developed new archaeometric techniques mostly in bilateral cooperation, an even greater outcome was expected from a more multifaceted approach with the participation of various scientific disciplines around a well-defined, archaeological research topic. Furthermore, it was intended to establish a project outside the traditional research areas in central Europe or the Mediterranean. It was the great merit of the person formerly in charge of the BMBF priority program, Dr. Edgar Pusch, to develop these far-reaching perspectives and we are extremely grateful that after a rigorous screening our project among other interesting ones was selected for funding."

Signi?cant technological advances have been few and far between in the past approximately one hundred years of soil survey activities. Perhaps one of the most innovative techniques in the history of soil survey was the introduction of aerial photographs as base maps for ?eld mapping, which replaced the conventional base map laboriously prepared by planetable and alidade. Such a relatively simple idea by today's standards revolutionized soil surveys by vastly increasing the accuracy and ef?ciently. Yet, even this innovative approach did not gain universal acceptance immediately and was hampered by a lack of aerial coverage of the world, funds to cover the costs, and in some cases a reluctance by some soil mappers and cartog- phers to change. Digital Soil Mapping (DSM), which is already being used and tested by groups of dedicated and innovative pedologists, is perhaps the next great advancement in delivering soil survey information. However, like many new technologies, it too has yet to gain universal acceptance and is hampered by ignorance on the part of some pedologists and other scientists. DSM is a spatial soil information system created by numerical models that - count for the spatial and temporal variations of soil properties based on soil - formation and related environmental variables (Lagacheric and McBratney, 2007).

Clouds and cloud systems and their interactions with larger scales of motion, radiation, and the Earth's surface are extremely important parts of weather and climate systems. Their treatment in weather forecast and climate models is a significant source of errors and uncertainty. As computer power increases, it is beginning to be possible to explicitly resolve cloud and precipitation processes in these models, presenting opportunities for improving precipitation forecasts and larger-scale phenomena such as tropical cyclones which depend critically on cloud and precipitation physics.

This book by Professor Shouting Gao of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Beijing and Xiaofan Li of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Services (NESDIS) presents an update and review of results of high-resolution, mostly two-dimensional models of clouds and precipitation and their interactions with larger scales of motion and the Earth's surface. It provides a thorough description of cloud and precipitation physics, including basic governing equations and related physics, such as phase changes of water, radiation and mixing. Model results are compared with observations from the 1992-93 Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) experiment. The importance of the ocean to tropical convective systems is clearly shown here in the numerical results of simulations with their air-sea coupled modeling system. While the focus is on tropical convection, the methodology and applicability can be extended to cloud and precipitation processes elsewhere.

The results described in this well-written book form a solid foundation for future high-resolution model weather forecasts and climate simulations that resolve clouds explicitly in three dimensions-a future that has great promise for the understanding and prediction of weather and climate for the great benefit of society.

"Potential Theory in Applied Geophysics" introduces the principles of gravitational, magnetic, electrostatic, direct current electrical and electromagnetic fields, with detailed solutions of Laplace and electromagnetic wave equations by the method of separation of variables. Behaviour of the scalar and vector potential and the nature of the solutions of these boundary value problems are shown along with the use of complex variables and conformal transformation, Green's theorem, Green's functions and its use in integral equation. Finite element and finite difference methods for two-dimensional potential problems are discussed in considerable detail. The analytical continuation of the potential field and inverse theory, used for the interpretation of potential field data, are also demonstrated.

An asteroid or comet will inevitably strike the Earth some day, and potentially cause great destruction. This volume considers hazards due to collisions with cosmic objects, particularly in light of recent investigations of impacts by the authors. Each chapter, written by an expert, contains an overview of an aspect and new findings in the field. Coverage describes and numerically estimates the main hazardous effects.

This, the second edition of the hugely practical reference and handbook describes kinematic, static and dynamic Global Positioning System theory and applications. It is primarily based upon source-code descriptions of the KSGSoft program developed by the author and his colleagues and used in the AGMASCO project of the EU. This is the first book to report the unified GPS data processing method and algorithm that uses equations for selectively eliminated equivalent observations.

The lAG International Symposium on Gravity, Geoid, and Space Missions 2004 (GGSM2004) was lield in the beautiful city of Porto, Portugal, from 30 August to 3 September 2004. This symposium encompassed the themes of Commission 2 (Gravity Field) of the newly structured lAG, as well as interdisciplinary topics related to geoid and gravity modeling, with special attention given to the current and planned gravi- dedicated satellite missions. The symposium also followed in the tradition of mid-term meetings that were held between the quadrennial joint meetings of the International Geoid and Gravity Commissions. The previous mid-term meetings were the International Symposia on Gravity, Geoid, and Marine Geodesy (Tokyo, 1996), and Gravity, Geoid, and Geodynamics (Banff, 2000). GGSM2004 aimed to bring together scientists from different areas in the geosciences, working with gravity and geoid related problems, both from the theoretical and practical points of view. Topics of interest included the integration of heterogeneous data and contributions from satellite and airborne techniques to the study of the spatial and temporal variations of the gravity field. In addition to the special focus on the CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE satellite missions, attention was also directed toward projects addressing topographic and ice field mapping using SAR, LIDAR, and laser altimetry, as well as missions and studies related to planetary geodesy.

The need for tsunami research and analysis has grown dramatically following the devastating tsunami of December 2004, which affected Southern Asia. This book pursues a detailed theoretical and mathematical analysis of the fundamentals of tsunamis, especially the evolution and dynamics of tsunamis and other great waves. Of course, it includes specific measurement results from the 2004 tsunami, but the emphasis is on the nature of the waves themselves and their links to nonlinear phenomena.

This book provides the first coherent account of a well-known approach to the problem of light scattering by small anisotropic particles. In this extended second edition the authors have encompassed all the new topics arising from their recent studies of cosmic dust grains. Thus many chapters were deeply revised and new chapters were added. The book addresses a wide spectrum of applications.

Clouds affect the climate of the Earth, and they are an important factor in the weather. Therefore, their radiative properties must be understood in great detail. This book summarizes current knowledge on cloud optical properties, for example their ability to absorb, transmit, and reflect light, which depends on the clouds geometrical and microphysical characteristics such as sizes of droplets and crystals, their shapes, and structures. In addition, problems related to the image transfer through clouds and cloud remote sensing are addressed in this book in great detail.

This book can serve as a major introductory text in cloud optics for students; it can also be an important source of information on theoretical cloud optics for cloud physicists, meteorologists and optical engineers.

All basic ideas of optics as related to scattering of light in clouds (e.g. Mie theory and radiative transfer) are considered in a self consistent way. Consequently, the book can also be a useful textbook to newcomers to the field."

This volume considers the role comets may have played in the origins and evolution of life. This is the only book dealing in depth with this subject. It is particularly relevant in light of recent investigations of Halley's comet, of new insights into organic synthesis in meteorites and comets, and of new results of numerical simulations of cometary orbits and impacts on Earth. The book is intended as a comprehensive review of current research.

Seismic early warning is being recognized as a methodology which offers the biggest potential for real time seismic risk mitigation, particularly in towns and industrial areas. In order to be effectively applied it requires close cooperation between seismologists, communication experts and seismic engineers. The added value of this book is to offer an overview of frontier problems related to all aspects of the seismic early warning chain, from basic seismological issues to engineering problems and system reliability. Early warning seismic networks also provide near real time shake maps for damage estimation and emergency management immediately after an event. The state of the major early warning systems in operation and in the course of development (e.g. those operated in Japan, Taiwan, Rumania, Turkey and those being implemented in California and Southern Italy) is also presented. It is the first time that all these aspects are specifically focused upon within a single book. It will constitute a reference not only for researchers and students, but for all institutions which are willing to face the development and/or implementation of this methodology, including International organizations (UNDP, European Civil Protection, European Commision) National Civil Defence organizations, industry and town-planners.

The first volume of this work is organized in three levels, so that the portion and importance of thermodynamics and mathematics increase from level to level. The ground level shows that basics of phase equilibria can be understood without thermodynamics provided the concept of chemical potential is introduced early. The intermediate level introduces thermodynamics, culminating in the Gibbs energy as the arbiter for equilibrium. At the third level the accent is on binary systems, where one or more phases are solutions of the components. Priority is given throughout to the thermodynamic assessment of experimental data. 200 exercises are included with solutions.

Due to their unique geophysical and geodynamic environment, both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions are often utilized for geodetic and geophysical observations. This book is a collection of papers on various aspects of the scientific investigation and observation techniques of the polar regions at both temporary and permanent observatories. Most papers focus on regional models based on data acquired in polar regions. Geodetic satellite positions systems (GNSS: GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO) will also be discussed as well as other space techniques (DORIS, VLBI). Gravimetry, absolute gravimetry, and tidal gravimetry are also discussed, as well as seismology and meteorology. The book also touches on data analysis and geodynamic interpretation and discusses methods of constructing autonomous observatories.

The book unifies classical continuum mechanics and turbulence modeling, i.e. the same fundamental concepts are used to derive model equations for material behaviour and turbulence closure and complements these with methods of dimensional analysis. The intention is to equip the reader with the ability to understand the complex nonlinear modeling in material behaviour and turbulence closure as well as to derive or invent his own models. Examples are mostly taken from environmental physics and geophysics.

Based on data from an experiment which ran for ten years, this book summarizes the results of the Atmospheric Physics Department of the St. Petersburg University and the Main Geophysical Observatory. The processed data now forms a rich dataset of spectral values of radiative characteristics under different atmospheric conditions. The analysis of this database clearly shows that the solar radiative absorption in a dusty and cloudy atmosphere is significantly higher than assumed to date. Both graduate students of atmospheric sciences as well as scientists and researchers in the field of meteorology and climatology will find a wealth of new data and information in this monograph.