Fundamental Principles Of Environmental Physics

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.

Environmental Physics concerns the description and analysis of physical processes that establish the conditions in which all species of life survive and reproduce. The subject involves a synthesis of mathematical relations that describe the physical nature of the environment and the many biological responses that environments evoke. Environmental Physics provides a basis for understanding the complex responses of plants and animals to environmental change. International concern with climate change has made both politicans and the general public much more aware of the impact of local and global weather on all aspects of domestic life, industry and commerce. Environmental Physics has become more widely used by biologists, atmospheric scientists and climate modellers to specify interations between surfaces and the atmosphere. This new edition contains further material on causes of global warming, applications of remote sensing, and the carbon and water cycles of crops and forests. * Presents a unique synthesis of micrometeorology and ecology in its widest sense. * Deals quantitatively with the impact of weather on living systems but also with the interactions between them that are a central feature of life on earth * Includes an up-to-date bibliography and review of recent micrometeorological applications in forestry, ecology, hydrology and agriculture * Includes numerical problems and worked examples

Demonstrates the use of physics for understanding processes in the environment, combining basic principles with their application to important questions in environmental science. Provides students with an awareness of the physics necessary to analyze, prevent or mitigate environmental problems.

Thoroughly revised and up-dated edition of a highly successful textbook.

Aimed at a first course in environmental physics, environmental science, environmental analysis, or environmental monitoring. This text can be used by first year students and above, and takes a scientific approach as opposed to a social or political one. Mathematics is kept to a minimum, although some background (school) knowledge of science is assumed. Courses would be taught in physics, environmental science and physical science departments. Comprehensively covering the field, this book brings together the latest developments, theories, research and concerns, from both the scientific and social sides. Placing the environment firmly at the centre of the scientific agenda, it provides all the background needed by readers to fully understand this important and often 'hype-driven' subject. Whilst mathematics is introduced where necessary, it is carefully explained and kept simple, with derivations generally being avoided. Wherever possible, topics of current concern and relevance are included, and many examples, features and appetisers or mini-case studies are included, frequently drawn from publications such as New Scientist, Nature, Science, Physics Today and Scientific American. The book starts with a general overview of the subject, and then moves on to cover climate, energy, pollutants, noise, measurements and social aspects.

Symbols; The scope of environmental physics; Basic physics; The radiation environment; Radiation geometry; Radiation balance; Momentum transfer; Heat transfer - (i) convection; (ii) conduction; Mass transfer; Partitioning of heat - (i) dry systems; (ii) wet systems; The micrometeorology of crops.

This thoroughly revised and updated third edition focuses on the utilization of sustainable energy and mitigating climate change, serving as an introduction to physics in the context of societal problems. A distinguishing feature of the text is the discussion of spectroscopy and spectroscopic methods as a crucial means to quantitatively analyze and monitor the condition of the environment, the factors determining climate change, and all aspects of energy conversion. This textbook will be invaluable to students in physics and related subjects, and supplementary materials are available on a companion website http://www.nat.vu.nl/environmentalphysics Instructor support material is available at http://booksupport.wiley.com

Environmental Physics is a comprehensive introduction to the physical concepts underlying environmental science. The importance and relevance of physics is emphasised by its application to real environmental problems with a wide range of case studies. Applications included cover energy use and production, global climate, the physics of living things, radioactivity, environmental remote sensing, noise pollution and the physics of the Earth. The book makes the subject accessible to those with little physics background, keeping mathematical treatment straightforward. The text is lively and informative, and is supplemented by numerous illustrations, photos, tables of useful data, and a glossary of key terms.