Cloud research is a rapidly developing branch of climate science that's vital to climate modelling. With new observational and simulation technologies our knowledge of clouds and their role in the warming climate is accelerating. This book provides a comprehensive overview of research on clouds and their role in our present and future climate, covering theoretical, observational, and modelling perspectives. Part I discusses clouds from three different perspectives: as particles, light and fluid. Part II describes our capability to model clouds, ranging from theoretical conceptual models to applied parameterised representations. Part III describes the interaction of clouds with the large-scale circulation in the tropics, mid-latitudes, and polar regions. Part IV describes how clouds are perturbed by aerosols, the land-surface, and global warming. Each chapter contains end-of-chapter exercises and further reading sections, making this an ideal resource for advanced students and researchers in climatology, atmospheric science, meteorology, and climate change.

Bringing together leading researchers, this 2004 volume surveys numerous developments in the fields of atmospheric turbulence and mesoscale meteorology, with particular emphasis on the areas pioneered by Douglas K. Lilly. Numerical simulation is an increasingly important tool for improving our understanding of a wide range of atmospheric phenomena. The first part of this book looks at the development of theoretical and computational analyses of atmospheric turbulent flows, and reviews research advances in this area. Chapters in the second part look at various aspects of mesoscale weather phenomena: from the numerical forecasting of individual thunderstorms to understanding how mountains affect local weather and climate. Researchers and graduate students will find the book to be an excellent resource summarizing the development of techniques as well as current and future work in the fields of atmospheric turbulence and mesoscale meteorology.