Atmospheric Turbulence And Mesoscale Meteorology

Leading researchers come together in this 2004 text to survey recent developments in atmospheric turbulence and mesoscale meteorology.

Originally published in 1955 Atmospheric Turbulence examines dynamic meteorology and the fundamental part it plays in the overall science of meteorology. The book examines the theory of atmospheric turbulence as a more mathematically developed area than largescale motions of the atmosphere and examines its significance in economic, military and industrial spheres. The book focuses on the effect and importance of atmospheric turbulence, not only to meteorologists, but the designers of large aircraft. The book addresses the effects of turbulence and the properties of the atmosphere that can be found closer to the ground. This book will be of interest to atmospheric physicists and meteorologists.

This book presents developments of novel techniques and applies them in order to understand the interactions between thermally driven mesoscale flows (sea and mountain breezes) and the turbulent exchange within the atmospheric boundary layer. These interactions are not accurately reproduced in the meteorological models currently employed for weather forecasting. Consequently, important variables such as air temperature and wind speed are misrepresented. Also, the concentrations of relevant greenhouse gases such as CO2 are considerably affected by these interactions. By applying a systematic algorithm based on objective criteria (presented here), the thesis explores complete observational databases spanning up to 10 years. Further, it presents statistically significant and robust results on the topic, which has only been studied in a handful of cases in the extant literature. Lastly, by applying the algorithm directly to the outputs of the meteorological model, the thesis helps readers understand the processes discussed and reveals the biases in such models.

This book is a collection of selected lectures presented at the ‘Intensive Course on Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting’ in Boulder, USA, in 1984. It includes mesoscale classifications, observing techniques and systems, internally generated circulations, mesoscale convective systems, externally forced circulations, modeling and short-range forecasting techniques. This is a highly illustrated book and comprehensive work, including extensive bibliographic references. It is aimed at graduates in meteorology and for professionals working in the field.

This book, authored by a well-known researcher and expositor in meteorology, focuses on the direct link between molecular dynamics and atmospheric variation. Uniting molecular dynamics, turbulence theory, fluid mechanics and non equilibrium statistical mechanics, it is relevant to the fields of applied mathematics, physics and atmospheric sciences, and focuses on fluid flow and turbulence, as well as on temperature, radiative transfer and chemistry. With extensive references and glossary this is an ideal text for graduates and researchers in meteorology, applied mathematics and physical chemistry.

This volume covers aspects of numerical modeling of the atmosphere and climate from the microscales of turbulence to the very large scales associated with climate and climatic change. Each of the three major spatio-temporal scales of the atmosphere, namely, the microscale, the mesoscale, and the macroscale is addressed through a hierarchy of models. Results of model simulations are illustrated throughout the text, with many of these examples based on the author's original research work. For each type of model discussed here, the theoretical background, including governing equation sets, simplifying assumptions, and advantages and limits of the models, is provided. The topic of coupled, or nested, modeling systems as a promising approach to air pllution embedded in regional atmospheric flows, as well as to the regional atmospheric response to global climate forcings, is also addressed. An attempt is made throughout the book to highlight the highly interdisciplinary nature of atmospheric modeling, particularly in those sections dealing with climatic change issues.

The study of turbulence in the atmosphere has seen considerable progress in the last decade. To put it briefly: boundary-layer meteorology, the branch of atmospheric science that concentrates on turbulence in the lower atmosphere, has moved from the surface layer into the boundary layer itself. The progress has been made on all fronts: theoretical, numerical and observational. On the other hand, air pollution modeling has not seen such a rapid evolution. It has not benefited as much as it should have from the increasing knowledge in the field of atmospheric turbulence. Air pollution modeling is still in many ways based on observations and theories of the surface layer only. This book aims to bring the reader up to date on recent advances in boundary-layer meteorology and to pave the path for applications in air pollution dispersion problems. The text originates from the material presented during a short course on Atmospheric Turbulence and Air Pollution Modeling held in The Hague during September 1981. This course was sponsored and organized by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, xi xii PREFACE to which both editors are affiliated. The Netherlands Government Ministry of Health and Environmental Protection and the Council of Europe also gave support.