Fundamental Aspects Of Turbulent Flows In Climate Dynamics

"This book collects the text of the lectures given at the Les Houches Summer School on "Fundamental aspects of turbulent flows in climate dynamics", held in August 2017. Leading scientists in the fields of climate dynamics, atmosphere and ocean dynamics, geophysical fluid dynamics, physics and non-linear sciences present their views on this fast growing and interdisciplinary field of research, by venturing upon fundamental problems of atmospheric convection, clouds, large scale circulation, and predictability. Climate is controlled by turbulent flows. Turbulent motions are responsible for the bulk of the transport of energy, momentum, and water vapor in the atmosphere, which determine the distribution of temperature, winds, and precipitation on Earth. Clouds, weather systems, and boundary layers in the oceans and atmosphere are manifestations of turbulence in the climate system. Because turbulence remains as the great unsolved problem of classical physics, we do not have a complete physical theory of climate. The aim of this summer school was to survey what is known about how turbulent flows control climate, what role they may play in climate change, and to outline where progress in this important area can be expected, given today's computational and observational capabilities. This book reviews the state-of-the-art developments in this field and provides an essential background to future studies. All chapters are written from a pedagogical perspective, making the book accessible to masters and PhD students and all researchers wishing to enter this field. It is complemented by online video of several lectures and seminars recorded during the summer school"

Fluid dynamics is fundamental to our understanding of the atmosphere and oceans. Although many of the same principles of fluid dynamics apply to both the atmosphere and oceans, textbooks tend to concentrate on the atmosphere, the ocean, or the theory of geophysical fluid dynamics (GFD). This textbook provides a comprehensive unified treatment of atmospheric and oceanic fluid dynamics. The book introduces the fundamentals of geophysical fluid dynamics, including rotation and stratification, vorticity and potential vorticity, and scaling and approximations. It discusses baroclinic and barotropic instabilities, wave-mean flow interactions and turbulence, and the general circulation of the atmosphere and ocean. Student problems and exercises are included at the end of each chapter. Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics: Fundamentals and Large-Scale Circulation will be an invaluable graduate textbook on advanced courses in GFD, meteorology, atmospheric science and oceanography, and an excellent review volume for researchers. Additional resources are available at www.cambridge.org/9780521849692.

The topic of the CVIII session of the Ecole de Physique des Houches, held in July 2017, was Effective Field Theory in Particle Physics and Cosmology. Effective Field Theory (EFT) is a general method for describing quantum systems with multiple length scales in a tractable fashion. It allows to perform precise calculations in established models (such as the Standard Models of particle physics and cosmology), as well as to concisely parametrise possible effects from physics beyond the Standard Models. The goal of this school was to offer a broad introduction to the foundations and modern applications of Effective Field Theory in many of its incarnations. This is all the more important as there are preciously few textbooks covering the subject, none of them in a complete way. In this book, the lecturers present the concepts in a pedagogical way so that readers can adapt some of the latest developments to their own problems. The chapters cover almost all the lectures given at the school and will serve as an introduction to the topic and as a reference manual to students and researchers.

From molecular motors to bacteria, from crawling cells to large animals, active entities are found at all scales in the biological world. Active matter encompasses systems whose individual constituents irreversibly dissipate energy to exert self-propelling forces on their environment. Over the past twenty years, scientists have managed to engineer synthetic active particles in the lab, paving the way towards smart active materials. This book gathers a pedagogical set of lecture notes that cover topics in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics and active matter. These lecture notes stem from the first summer school on Active Matter delivered at the Les Houches school of Physics. The lectures covered four main research directions: collective behaviours in active-matter systems, passive and active colloidal systems, biophysics and active matter, and nonequilibrium statistical physics--from passive to active.

With major implications for applied physics, engineering, and the natural and social sciences, the rapidly growing area of environmental fluid dynamics focuses on the interactions of human activities, environment, and fluid motion. A landmark for the field, the two-volume Handbook of Environmental Fluid Dynamics presents the basic principles, fundamental flow processes, modeling techniques, and measurement methods used in the study of environmental motions. It also offers critical discussions of environmental sustainability related to engineering. The handbook features 81 chapters written by 135 renowned researchers from around the world. Covering environmental, policy, biological, and chemical aspects, it tackles important cross-disciplinary topics such as sustainability, ecology, pollution, micrometeorology, and limnology. Volume One: Overview and Fundamentals provides a comprehensive overview of the basic principles. It starts with general topics that emphasize the relevance of environmental fluid dynamics research in society, public policy, infrastructure, quality of life, security, and the law. It then discusses established and emerging focus areas. The volume also examines the sub-mesoscale flow processes and phenomena that form the building blocks of environmental motions, with emphasis on turbulent motions and their role in heat, momentum, and species transport. As communities face existential challenges posed by climate change, rapid urbanization, and scarcity of water and energy, the study of environmental fluid dynamics becomes increasingly relevant. This volume is a valuable resource for students, researchers, and policymakers working to better understand the fundamentals of environmental motions and how they affect and are influenced by anthropogenic activities. See also Handbook of Environmental Fluid Dynamics, Two-Volume Set and Volume Two: Systems, Pollution, Modeling, and Measurements.

Mathematical and Physical Fundamentals of Climate Change is the first book to provide an overview of the math and physics necessary for scientists to understand and apply atmospheric and oceanic models to climate research. The book begins with basic mathematics then leads on to specific applications in atmospheric and ocean dynamics, such as fluid dynamics, atmospheric dynamics, oceanic dynamics, and glaciers and sea level rise. Mathematical and Physical Fundamentals of Climate Change provides a solid foundation in math and physics with which to understand global warming, natural climate variations, and climate models. This book informs the future users of climate models and the decision-makers of tomorrow by providing the depth they need. Developed from a course that the authors teach at Beijing Normal University, the material has been extensively class-tested and contains online resources, such as presentation files, lecture notes, solutions to problems and MATLab codes. Includes MatLab and Fortran programs that allow readers to create their own models Provides case studies to show how the math is applied to climate research Online resources include presentation files, lecture notes, and solutions to problems in book for use in classroom or self-study

This book is an interdisciplinary and accessible guide to environmental physics. It allows readers to gain a more complete understanding of physical process and their interaction with ecological ones underpin important environmental issues. The book covers a wide range of topics within environmental physics, including: • natural and anthropogenic canopies, including forests, urban or wavy terrains;• the fundamentals of heat transfer;• atmospheric flow dynamics;• global carbon budget;• climate change; and• the relevance of biochar as a global carbon sink. Including solved exercises, numerous illustrations and tables, as well as an entire chapter focused on applications, book is of interest to researchers, students and industrial engineers alike.