The Earth’s Atmosphere: Its Physics and Dynamics

Description

This book covers a wide area of the atmospheric science, focusing particularly on those physical and dynamical aspects of our environment which tend to create heat sources and sinks in the earth-atmosphere system and which it seeks to balance through circulation at different time and space scales. The processes of heat transfer in the atmosphere and ocean by general circulation and by waves and oscillations are discussed in detail. The heat balance of the atmosphere is considered, after taking into consideration the role of various types of greenhouse gases that may be present. In this context, the publication of the book will be very timely and will be welcomed by all those interested in knowing more about our atmosphere and the way it works, especially with regard to the contentious issue of global warming by greenhouse gases released by human activities on earth. Starting with the origin, composition and structure of the atmosphere, the physics part deals with the laws of heat and thermodynamics of dry and moist air, water vapor and its transformation into different phases and formation of cloud and rain under different stability conditions, solar and terrestrial radiation and their impact on the gaseous envelope in different layers of the atmosphere which create sources and sinks in different parts of the atmosphere especially in its boundary layers. The dynamics part highlights the various types of motion systems including the general circulation of waves and oscillations which create the heat balance in the earth-atmosphere system. Front Matter....Pages I-XXI Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Sun and the Earth – The Solar System and the Earth’s Gravitation....Pages 3-8 The Earth’s Atmosphere – Its Origin, Composition and Properties....Pages 9-26 Heat and Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere....Pages 27-42 Water Vapour in the Atmosphere: Thermodynamics of Moist Air....Pages 43-58 Physics of Cloud and Precipitation....Pages 59-78 Physics of Radiation – Fundamental Laws....Pages 79-88 The Sun and its Radiation....Pages 89-98 The Incoming Solar Radiation – Interaction with the Earth’s Atmosphere and Surface....Pages 99-114 Heat Balance of the Earth’s Surface – Upward and Downward Transfer of Heat....Pages 115-136 Heat Balance of the Earth-Atmosphere System – Heat Sources and Sinks....Pages 137-151 Front Matter....Pages 153-153 Winds on a Rotating Earth – The Dynamical Equations and the Conservation Laws....Pages 155-171 Simplified Equations of Motion – Quasi-Balanced Winds....Pages 173-185 Circulation, Vorticity and Divergence....Pages 187-206 The Boundary Layers of the Atmosphere and the Ocean....Pages 207-225 Waves and Oscillations in the Atmosphere and the Ocean....Pages 227-252 Equatorial Waves and Oscillations....Pages 253-273 Dynamical Models and Numerical Weather Prediction (N.W.P.)....Pages 275-291 Dynamical Instability of Atmospheric Flows – Energetics and Energy Conversions....Pages 293-309 The General Circulation of the Atmosphere....Pages 311-331 Back Matter....Pages 333-367