Atmosphere, Clouds, and Climate

Author: David Randall
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400842778
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
An essential primer on atmospheric processes and their important role in the climate system The atmosphere is critical to climate change. It can amplify shifts in the climate system, and also mitigate them. This primer offers a short, reader-friendly introduction to these atmospheric processes and how they work, written by a leading expert on the subject. Giving readers an overview of key atmospheric processes, David Randall looks at how our climate system receives energy from the sun and sheds it by emitting infrared radiation back into space. The atmosphere regulates these radiative energy flows and transports energy through weather systems such as thunderstorms, monsoons, hurricanes, and winter storms. Randall explains how these processes work, and also how precipitation, cloud formation, and other phase changes of water strongly influence weather and climate. He discusses how atmospheric feedbacks affect climate change, how the large-scale atmospheric circulation works, how predicting the weather and the climate are fundamentally different challenges, and much more. This is the ideal introduction for students and nonspecialists. No prior experience in atmospheric science is needed, only basic college physics. Authoritative and concise, Atmosphere, Clouds, and Climate features a glossary of terms, suggestions for further reading, and easy-to-follow explanations of a few key equations. This accessible primer is the essential introduction to atmospheric processes and the vital role they play in our climate system.

Clouds and Climate

Author: A. Pier Siebesma
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781107447738
Category : Clouds
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
"Clouds have always fascinated humans, but never has the need to understand them been so vital. As global surface temperature increases, human activities influence particulate matter in the atmosphere, and the properties of the land surface, clouds are expected to change, with manifold consequences for the climate. Clouds influence climate through their regulation of radiant energy transfer, through their role in convective energy transport, and in mediating the water cycle. Cloud research has never been so exciting. It is a topic with many new opportunities. New satellite observations from space with active instruments such as lidar and radar allow for the first time to reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of clouds across Earth. Likewise, numerical simulations are beginning to globally resolve the three spatial dimensions of clouds as well as their dynamic evolution. This is enabling researchers, for the first time, to link the smallscale cloud processes and the basic laws that govern them to the general circulation of the atmosphere. These new types of observations, and simulation, are enabling researchers to distinguish how different cloud types influence the climate, and are guiding conceptual representations of their collective behaviour"--

The Atmosphere and Climate of Mars

Author: Robert M. Haberle
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107016185
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 613

Book Description
This volume reviews all aspects of Mars atmospheric science from the surface to space, and from now and into the past.

Clouds in the Perturbed Climate System

Author: Jost Heintzenberg
Publisher: Strungmann Forum Reports
ISBN: 9780262012874
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
More than half the globe is covered by visible clouds.

Radiation and Cloud Processes in the Atmosphere

Author: Kuo-Nan Liou
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 9780195049107
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 487

Book Description
This is an up-to-date treatment of atmospheric science and the key roles of solar radiation and cloud layers.

Climate and Ecosystems

Author: David Schimel
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691151962
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
How does life on our planet respond to--and shape--climate? This question has never been more urgent than it is today, when humans are faced with the daunting task of guiding adaptation to an inexorably changing climate. This concise, accessible, and authoritative book provides an unmatched introduction to the most reliable current knowledge about the complex relationship between living things and climate. Using an Earth System framework, David Schimel describes how organisms, communities of organisms, and the planetary biosphere itself react to and influence environmental change. While much about the biosphere and its interactions with the rest of the Earth System remains a mystery, this book explains what is known about how physical and chemical climate affect organisms, how those physical changes influence how organisms function as individuals and in communities of organisms, and ultimately how climate-triggered ecosystem changes feed back to the physical and chemical parts of the Earth System. An essential introduction, Climate and Ecosystems shows how Earth's living systems profoundly shape the physical world.

Physics and Chemistry of Clouds

Author: Dennis Lamb
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139500945
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 599

Book Description
Clouds affect our daily weather and play key roles in the global climate. Through their ability to precipitate, clouds provide virtually all of the fresh water on Earth and are a crucial link in the hydrologic cycle. With ever-increasing importance being placed on quantifiable predictions - from forecasting the local weather to anticipating climate change - we must understand how clouds operate in the real atmosphere, where interactions with natural and anthropogenic pollutants are common. This textbook provides students - whether seasoned or new to the atmospheric sciences - with a quantitative yet approachable path to learning the inner workings of clouds. Developed over many years of the authors' teaching at Pennsylvania State University, Physics and Chemistry of Clouds is an invaluable textbook for advanced students in atmospheric science, meteorology, environmental sciences/engineering and atmospheric chemistry. It is also a very useful reference text for researchers and professionals.

Climate and the Oceans

Author: Geoffrey K. Vallis
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691150281
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Book Description
Explores climate and oceans, providing a look at the basics of climate, a descriptive overview of the oceans, a brief introduction to dynamics, and coverage of other related topics.

An Introduction to Clouds

Author: Ulrike Lohmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316586251
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

Book Description
An Introduction to Clouds provides a fundamental understanding of clouds, ranging from cloud microphysics to the large-scale impacts of clouds on climate. On the microscale, phase changes and ice nucleation are covered comprehensively, including aerosol particles and thermodynamics relevant for the formation of clouds and precipitation. At larger scales, cloud dynamics, mid-latitude storms and tropical cyclones are discussed leading to the role of clouds on the hydrological cycle and climate. Each chapter ends with problem sets and multiple-choice questions that can be completed online, and important equations are highlighted in boxes for ease of reference. Combining mathematical formulations with qualitative explanations of underlying concepts, this accessible book requires relatively little previous knowledge, making it ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in atmospheric science, environmental sciences and related disciplines.

Cloud Computing in Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

Author: Tiffany C Vance
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 012803193X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 456

Book Description
Cloud Computing in Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences provides the latest information on this relatively new platform for scientific computing, which has great possibilities and challenges, including pricing and deployments costs and applications that are often presented as primarily business oriented. In addition, scientific users may be very familiar with these types of models and applications, but relatively unfamiliar with the intricacies of the hardware platforms they use. The book provides a range of practical examples of cloud applications that are written to be accessible to practitioners, researchers, and students in affiliated fields. By providing general information on the use of the cloud for oceanographic and atmospheric computing, as well as examples of specific applications, this book encourages and educates potential users of the cloud. The chapters provide an introduction to the practical aspects of deploying in the cloud, also providing examples of workflows and techniques that can be reused in new projects. - Provides real examples that help new users quickly understand the cloud and provide guidance for new projects - Presents proof of the usability of the techniques and a clear path to adoption of the techniques by other researchers - Includes real research and development examples - that are ideal for cloud computing adopters in ocean and atmospheric domains