Part of the Kemp and Young series, this book provides a concise introduction to meteorology. Information is presented using diagrams, illustrations and worked examples. Mathematics is kept to a necessary minimum and there is a comprehensive index to aid quick reference. Notes on Meteorology is suitable for First Officer or Master Marine certification exams, those new to sea faring, and those whose practical experience is limited to narrow areas and wish to expand their knowledge.

SCIAMACHY, the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHar tographY, is a passive sensor for exploring the Earth's atmosphere. It is part of the payload of the European Earth Observation mission ENVISAT, launched on 1 March 2002. SCIAMACHY observes absorption spectra of molecules from the UV (214 nm) to the short-wave infrared wavelength range (2386 nm) and derives the atmospheric composition - trace gases, aerosols, clouds - from these measurements. Having meanwhile successfully monitored and explored the Earth's atmosphere for more than 8 years, new and exciting insights into the Earth-atmosphere system are obtained. The provided global data sets do not only cover greenhouse gases and pollutants in the troposphere or the ozone chemistry in the stratosphere but even reach up to the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. They contribute significantly to atmospheric physics and chemistry as well as climate change research. SCIAMACHY is one of the major current Earth Observation undertakings of Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium, accomplished in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA). Many scientific groups at various institutes in Europe and abroad were and are actively involved in the analysis of the data. This book is a comprehensive summary describing the entire SCIAMACHY mission - from the very first ideas to the current results. It illustrates how the measurements are performed, how the trace gas concentrations are derived from the measured spectra and how the unique data sets are used to improve our understanding of the changing Earth's atmosphere. The targeted readership is not only the existing and potentially new SCIAMACHY data users from undergraduate student level up to researchers new in the fields of atmospheric chemistry and remote sensing, but anyone who is keen to learn about SCIAMACHY's efforts to study the atmosphere and its responses to both, natural phenomena and anthropogenic effects.

This volume provides an up to date overview of climate variability during the 20th century in the context of natural and anthropogenic variability. It compiles a number of contributions to a workshop held in Gwatt, Switzerland, in July 2006 dealing with different aspects of climate change, variability, and extremes during the past 100 years. The individual contributions cover a broad range of topics. The volume fills a gap in this exciting field of research.

Information-based decision-making during drought, often brings out some of the excellent practices that are prevalent in society / individuals. This book is designed to provide information on the drought process, meteorological, hydrological, agriculture, socio-economic aspects and available technologies such as satellite remote sensing data analysis and Geographical Information system for assessment. Assessment procedures utilising the various parameters of importance from various sources for micro level management that would enhance the effectiveness of management practice are dealt in detail. Resource availability and affected group determine the relief assistance for the present event and information that would help them in their realisation and preparedness for the forthcoming years by select countries is highlighted. This would help in the formulation of schemes for event mitigation and area development plans. The readers would gain complete knowledge on drought. This book is expected to act as a guide in preparing people as effective natural resource utilizationist under drought situations.

This book provides an introduction to recent developments in the area of hydrome- orological forecasting, with a focus on water-related applications of meteorological observation and forecasting techniques. The Encylopaedia Britannica de?nes hydrometeorology as a branch of met- rology that deals with problems involving the hydrologic cycle, the water budget and the rainfall statistics of storms...(continued). The topic spans a wide range of disciplines, including raingauge, weather radar, satellite, river and other monitoring techniques, rainfall-runoff, ?ow routing and hydraulic models, and nowcasting and Numerical Weather Prediction techniques. Applications include ?ood forecasting, drought forecasting, climate change impact assessments, reservoir management, and water resources and water quality studies. The emphasis in this book is on hydrometeorological forecasting techniques, which are usually distinguished from prediction or simulation studies in that es- mates are provided for a speci?c time or period in the future, rather than for typical past, current or future conditions. Often this requires the use of real-time obser- tions and/or forecasts of meteorological conditions as inputs to hydrological models. The availability of information on current conditions also means that - parti- larly for short lead times - data assimilation techniques can be used to improve model outputs; typically by adjusting the model inputs, states or parameters, or by post-processing the outputs based on the differences between observed and forecast values up to the time of the forecast.

... "Included on the Choice list with the outstanding academic Earth Sciences titles 2008" ... This volume describes simplified dynamic analyses that bridge the gap between the rather limited provisions of design codes and the rather eclectic methods used in sophisticated analyses. Graphs and spreadsheets are included for the ease and speed of use of simplified analyses of: soil slope (in)stability and displacements caused by earthquakes, sand liquefaction and flow caused by earthquakes, dynamic soil-foundation interaction, bearing capacity and additional settlement of shallow foundations, earthquake motion effects on tunnels and shafts, frequent liquefaction potential mitigation measures. A number of comments on the assumptions used in different methods, limitation and factors affecting the results are given. Several case histories are also included in the appendices in order to assess the accuracy and usefulness of the simplified methods. Audience This work is of interest to geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, earthquake engineers and students.

This book focuses on motions of incompressible ?uids of a freely moving surface being in?uenced by both the Earth's rotation and density strati?cation. In contrast to traditional textbooks in the ?eld of geophysical ?uid dynamics, such as those by by Cushman-Roisin (1994) and Gill (1982), this book uses the method of proce- oriented hydrodynamic modelling to illustrate a rich variety of ?uid phenomena. To this end, the reader can adopt the model codes, found on the Springer server accompanying this book, to reproduce most graphs of this book and, even better, to create animation movies. The reader can also employ the codes as templates for own independent studies. This can be done by a lay person as a hobby activity, undergraduate or postgraduate students as part of their education, or professional scientists as part of research. Exercises of this book are run with open-source software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet. This includes the FORTRAN 95 compiler "G95" used for execution of model simulations, the data visualisation program "SciLab", and "ImageMagick" for the creation of graphs and GIF animations, which can be watched with most Internet browsers.

The remote mountain loch of Lochnagar is one of the most studied freshwater bodies in Europe. This book brings together knowledge gained over two decades of multi-disciplinary scientific study, with the results of lake sediment research covering millennia, to show how the loch has developed both naturally and as a result of human impact. Particular emphasis is placed on how this fragile ecosystem, and others like it, may be affected by future climate change.

Concrete is still the most widely used construction material since it has the lowest ratio between cost and strength as compared to other available materials. However, it has two undesirable properties, namely: low tensile strength and large brittleness that cause the collapse to occur shortly after the formation of the first crack. To improve these two negative properties and to achieve a partial substitute of conventional reinforcement, an addition of short discontinuous randomly oriented steel fibres can be practiced among others. In spite of positive properties, fibrous concrete did not find such acknowledgment and application as usual concrete. There do not still exist consistent dimensioning rules due to the lack sufficient large-scale static and dynamic experiments taking into account the effect of the fibre orientation. The intention of the book is twofold: first to summarize the most important mechanical and physical properties of steel-fibre-added concrete and reinforced concrete on the basis of numerous experiments described in the scientific literature, and second to describe a quasi-static fracture process at meso-scale both in plain concrete and fibrous concrete using a novel discrete lattice model. In 2D and 3D simulations of fibrous concrete specimens under uniaxial tension, the effect of the fibre volume, fibre distribution, fibre orientation, fibre length, fibrous bond strength and specimen size on both the stress-strain curve and fracture process was carefully analyzed.

Reconstruction of the climate variability of the past 500 years is a topic of great scientific interest not only in global terms, but also at regional and local levels. This period is interesting on account of the increasing influence of anthropogenic forcing and its overlap with natural factors. The Polish Climate in the European Context: An Historical Overview summarises the results of research into climate variability based on a combination of instrumental, documentary, dendrochronological and borehole data from Poland. The first part of the book provides a Central European perspective of research in these fields, which forms the general background for a presentation of the state of the art of climatic change studies in Poland during the past 500 years (Part 2). This is followed by a selection of papers dealing mainly with different aspects of climate variability in Poland and Central Europe (Part 3). "This book is a valuable tool integrating Polish, Central and Eastern European climate research into the global context. It is, as such, a must for climate researchers worldwide." (Gaston Demaree, Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium) "This volume marks a significant step forward in our understanding of European climatic history." (Christian Pfister, University of Bern)

This Brief presents the multi criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques like Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (ANP) to find out the importance of the influencing factors to develop the Climatic Vulnerability Index (CVI) that will represent the vulnerability of the Hydro-Power Plant (HPP) to climatic abnormalities. The cognitive ability of neuro-genetic modeling is applied to minimize CVI so that the conditions required to reduce the effect of climate change on HPP can be identified. The results from the study are found to be encouraging. The scarcity and pollution potential of conventional sources of energy has enforced scientists worldwide to look for efficient, flexible, cost effective but reliable alternative energy resources. Among many available options the energy extracted from water was found to be the least expensive, most flexible and moderately reliable renewable energy source which has the potential to replace the dependency on conventional fuels.

Climate disasters demand an integration of multilateral negotiations on climate change, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, human rights and human security. Via detailed examination of recent law and policy initiatives from around the world, and making use of a capability approach, Rosemary Lyster develops a unique approach to human and non-human climate justice and its application to all stages of a disaster: prevention; response, recovery and rebuilding; and compensation and risk transfer. She comprehensively analyses the complexities of climate science and their interfaces with the law- and policy-making processes, and also provides an in-depth analysis of multilateral climate change negotiations under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The book is a collection of the lectures delivered during the 7th International Summer School on Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (ISSAOS) titled "Integrated Ground-Based Observing Systems Applications for Climate, Meteorology, and Civil Protection". Its aim is to contribute to the scientific understanding of basic concepts and applications of integrated ground-based observing systems. The first part describes the most common instrumentations showing their strengths and limitations. Furthermore, strategic plans for the deployment of an observation site are discussed along with an overview of techniques for integrating heterogeneous data. The second part introduces cutting-edge applications, including assimilation in numerical weather prediction, climate benchmarking, air quality monitoring and meteo/hydrological warnings.

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.

A vast amount has been written on climate change and what should be our response. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation suggests that most of this literature takes a far too optimistic position regarding the potential for conventional mitigation solutions to achieve the deep cuts in greenhouse gases necessary in the limited time frame we have available. In addition, global environmental problems, as exemplified by climate change, and global resource problems - such as fossil fuel depletion or fresh water scarcity - have largely been seen as separate issues. Further, proposals for solution of these problems often focus at the national level, when the problems are global. The authors argue that the various challenges the planet faces are both serious and interconnected. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation takes a global perspective in its treatment of various solutions: * renewable energy; * nuclear energy; * energy efficiency; * carbon sequestration; and * geo-engineering. It also addresses the possibility that realistic solutions cannot be achieved until the fundamentally ethical question of global equity - both across nations today and also inter-generational - is fully addressed. Such an approach will also involve reorienting the global economy away from an emphasis on growth and toward the direct satisfaction of basic human needs for all the Earth's people. Rise and Fall of the Carbon Civilisation is aimed at the many members of the public with an awareness of climate change, but who wish to find out more about how we need to respond to the challenge. It will also be of interest to technical professionals, as well as postgraduate students and researchers, from the environmental and engineering science sectors.

Offering a cross-country examination and comparison of drought awareness and experience, this book shows how scientists, water managers, and policy makers approach drought and water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions of Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and the United States.

Global Change studies are increasingly being considered a vital source of information to understand the Earth Environment, in particular in the framework of human-induced climate change and land use transformation. Satellite Earth Observing systems provide a unique tool to monitor those changes. While the range of applications and innovative techniques is constantly increasing, this book provides a summary of key case studies where satellite data offer critical information to understand the causes and effects of those environmental changes, minimizing their negative impacts. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of remote sensing, geographical information, meteorology and environmental sciences. Also scientists and graduate up to post-graduate level students in environmental science will find valuable information in this book.

The book is a thorough presentation of theoretical and applied aspects of the evaporation and evapotranspiration process supported by data from experimental studies. It is written in a way that the theoretical background of evaporation and evapotranspiration estimation is presented in a simplified manner, comprehensive to most technical readers. The book deals with details of meteorological parameters and monitoring sensors which are needed for estimating evaporation and evapotranspiration. Errors in meteorological parameter measurements are also presented. Estimation errors, strengths, weaknesses and applicability of a wide range of evaporation and evapotranspiration estimation methods are presented along with samples of application to a certain region. Application of newer simpler methods is presented. A new technology, remote sensing application to evaporation and evapotranspiration estimation, is presented. The latest interest in the subject, climate change and evapotranspiration is presented in the last chapter. This book will be beneficial to students, hydrologists, engineers, meteorologists, water managers and others.

In response to Executive Order S-3-05, an evaluation of the implications to California of possible climate changes was undertaken using a scenario-based approach. The "Scenarios Project" investigated projected impacts of climate change on six sectors in the California region. The investigation considered the early, middle and later portions of the twenty-first century, guided by a set of IPCC Fourth Assessment global climate model runs forced by higher and lower greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Each of these climate simulations produce substantial impacts in California that would require adaptations from present practices or status. The most severe impacts could be avoided, however, if emissions can be held near the lower end of global greenhouse gas emissions scenarios. Reprinted from Climatic Change, Vol. 109: Supplement 1 (2011)

Unique combination and integrated assessment of three major fields in physical oceanography Providing both in depth scientific views and a historical overview Very prominent and reknown authors brought together

The second, enlarged edition of this established reference integrates many new insights into wastewater hydraulics. This work serves as a reference for researchers but also is a basis for practicing engineers. It can be used as a text book for graduate students, although it has the characteristics of a reference book. It addresses mainly the sewer hydraulician but also general hydraulic engineers who have to tackle many a problem in daily life, and who will not always find an appropriate solution. Each chapter is introduced with a summary to outline the contents. To illustrate application of the theory, examples are presented to explain the computational procedures. Further, to relate present knowledge to the history of hydraulics, some key dates on noteworthy hydraulicians are quoted. A historical note on the development of wastewater hydraulics is also added. References are given at the end of each chapter, and they are often helpful starting points for further reading. Each notation is defined when introduced, and listed alphabetically at the end of each chapter. This new edition includes in particular sideweirs with throttling pipes, drop shafts with an account on the two-phase flow features, as well as conduit choking due to direct or undular hydraulic jumps.

The chemical, physical and physicochemical processes that are at work in the depths of the Earth, both connected and unconnected with man's activities and coupled to the relevant properties and characteristics of the rocks, began to be intensively studied in the early decades of the present century. Until then little evidence had been available concerning the physical and physicochemical properties of rocks, and the data that existed were one-sided and uncoordinated. Both in this country and elsewhere an interest in investigating natural processes, the processes taking place in rocks, and the properties and characteristics of rocks arose as a result of the intensive development of oil and gas engineering, the mining of coal and ore, the construction of large projects, railroads, etc. Information on the properties of rocks was needed, in particular, to facilitate progress in engineering, technology, and geological and geophysical methods of prospecting for extracting and processing mineral deposits. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, methods involving intrinsic and induced pola rization were introduced. Moreover, little information was available concerning the petrophysical and petrochemical quantities characterizing the different contribution of various rocks to electrical processes. Electrical methods were followed by other methods of applied physics based on the novel electrical, thermal, magnetic, nuclear, elastic and other properties of rocks.

Natural ecosystems are heavily dependent on water, as it is essential to the development of life. The ecology and landscape play an important role in the quality and availability of water. It is no coincidence that exceptional hydrological phenomena are found in protected areas. Such is the case with, for example, the geothermic occurrences (principally, geysers) in America's Yellowstone National Park , the oldest park in the world. The Ramsar wetlands (where the ecosystem's dependency on water is strongly evident), The Iguacu Falls (on the border of Argentina and Brazil), or the Zapata Swamp (the largest of its kind on the Caribbean island of Cuba) further exemplify this point. However, in many cases, the conservation strategies for hydraulic resources in protected areas are ignored, or simply deprived of the attention they require. There are many types of suitable management strategies for planning and protecting our valuable treasures. Hydraulic resource management in protected areas is something that must not be separated from these conservation measures. The first Symposium for the Management of Hydraulic Resources in Protected Areas was intended to be a framework of communication about experiences with water resource management in protected areas. Advances in research and possible solutions to the problems within these areas were discussed. The contributions in this proceedings volume are grouped under seven main themes: Purification and reuse of wastewater in rural communities; Impact of public use on water resources; Vulnerability and risks associated with aquifers, Design and management water resources in protected areas; Research and monitoring of water resources in protected areas; Water and its importance as a source of renewable energy in protected spaces; and Geodiversity and conservation of areas with hydraulic heritage.