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.

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

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.

The changing climate and its affect on all of us is becoming increasingly apparent - ozone depletion, hurricanes, floods and extreme weather behaviour. Introduction to Environmental Physics challenges the way we think about how and why environmental change occurs. This authoritative book aims to cover some of the more common and popular topics addressed in "physics of the earth", "physics of the environment" and "environmental physics" courses. It provides an essentially non- mathematical treatment suitable for a first year undergraduate level course. The principle topics covered are the physics of the built environment, the physics of human survival, energy for living, environmental health, revealing the planet, the sun and the atmosphere, the biosphere, the global climate and climate change. With contributions from well-respected experts on the subject, this textbook contains a summary, references and questions at the end of each chapter. This is an ideal textbook for first year undergraduates in a variety of courses, particularly physical geography, physics, environmental and earth science, with worked examples illustrating principles and vignettes from scientists who have made a significant contribution to the field enlightening the student along the way. As the authors say in the preface to this book, "At the outset of the 21st century there are many environmental challenges to be wrestled with, and though the environment is changing, the Physics is not!"

An abridged, student-oriented edition of Hillel's earlier published Environmental Soil Physics, Introduction to Environmental Soil Physics is a more succinct elucidation of the physical principles and processes governing the behavior of soil and the vital role it plays in both natural and managed ecosystems. The textbook is self-contained and self-explanatory, with numerous illustrations and sample problems. Based on sound fundamental theory, the textbook leads to a practical consideration of soil as a living system in nature and illustrates the influences of human activity upon soil structure and function. Students, as well as other readers, will better understand the importance of soils and the pivotal possition they occupy with respect to careful and knowledgeable conservation. Written in an engaging and clear style, posing and resolving issues relevant to the terrestrial environment Explores the gamut of the interactions among the phases in the soil and the dynamic interconnection of the soil with the subterranean and atmospheric domains Reveals the salient ideas, approaches, and methods of environmental soil physics Includes numerous illustrative exercises, which are explicitly solved Designed to serve for classroom and laboratory instruction, for self-study, and for reference Oriented toward practical problems in ecology, field-scale hydrology, agronomy, and civil engineering Differs from earlier texts in its wider scope and holistic environmental conception

Foundations of Environmental Physics is designed to focus students on the current energy and environmental problems facing society, and to give them the critical thinking and computational skills needed to sort out potential solutions. From its pedagogical approach, students learn that a simple calculation based on first principles can often reveal the plausibility (or implausibility) of a proposed solution or new technology. Throughout its chapters, the text asks students to apply key concepts to current data (which they are required to locate using the Internet and other sources) to get a clearer picture of the most pressing issues in environmental science. The text begins by exploring how changes in world population impact all aspects of the environment, particularly with respect to energy use. It then discusses what the first and second laws of thermodynamics tell us about renewable and nonrenewable energy; how current energy use is changing the global climate; and how alternative technologies can be evaluated through scientific risk assessment. In approaching real-world problems, students come to understand the physical principles that underlie scientific findings. This informative and engaging textbook offers what prospective scientists, managers, and policymakers need most: the knowledge to understand environmental threats and the skills to find solutions.

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.