Weather

Handbook of Atmospheric Science: Principles and Applications edited by Andrea Jackson, C. N. Hewitt, U. Baltensperger, Peter Brimblecombe, D. Carruthers (Blackwell Publishing) The alarming consequences of global climate change have highlighted the need to take urgent steps to combat the causes of air pollution. Hence, understanding the Earth's atmosphere is a vital component in Man's emerging quest for developing sustainable modes of behavior in the 21st century.

Written by a team of expert scientists, the Handbook of Atmospheric Science provides a broad and up-to-date account of our understanding of the natural processes that occur within the atmosphere. It examines how human activities have had a detrimental effect on the climate, and how measures may be implemented in order to modify these activities. The book progresses through chapters covering the principles of atmospheric science and the current problems of air pollution at the urban, regional, and global scales, to the tools and applications used to understand air pollution.

The Handbook of Atmospheric Science offers an excellent overview of this multidisciplinary subject and will prove invaluable to both students and researchers of atmospheric science, air pollution, and global change.

Excerpt: Understanding and predicting the behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, as it manifests itself in the endless variations of weather and climate, has exercised Man since the beginning of time, and indeed the systematic study of the atmosphere is one of the oldest sciences. From Man's first tenta­tive, and maybe unintentional, sea voyages, to the present time, understanding the behavior of the at­mosphere has literally meant the difference be­tween life and death. In the past few decades, the study of the atmosphere has gained a new dimen­sion, as it has become apparent that Man is no longer merely a passive observer of weather and climate, but that our activities actively affect the behavior of the atmosphere.

The severity of the effects of Man's activities on the atmosphere were amply demonstrated in 1987 by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its subsequent amendments; for the first time governments around the world accepted that the atmosphere is a delicate veil that requires legislative protection from the excesses of industrialization. The time be­tween ozone depletion being first observed, the role of cholorofluorocarbon compounds in ozone deple­tion being explained, and international controls on the emissions of these polluting gases being agreed was remarkably short, and was an excellent exam­ple of the critical importance of the atmospheric sciences. Without measurement and observation techniques being developed and deployed, without an excellent underpinning knowledge of gas phase and heterogeneous chemical reactions, and with­out the scientific vision to link the observed ozonedepletion to the emissions of the CFC gases, such rapid protection of the population through legisla­tion would not have been possible.

In many respects, ozone depletion is a problem solved. It will take time for the ozone-depleting substances already in the atmosphere to be re­moved, and although there may be surprises in store, essentially ozone depletion is a twentieth-century problem. Of much more immediate concern, and in many respects of much greater concern, is global climate change. Governments around the world now accept that emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other radiatively active gases are changing, and will continue to change, the radiative balance of the Earth's atmos­phere, and hence are changing, and will continue to change, the Earth's climate. Of particular con­cern is the possibility that some of the resultant ef­fects may be large and unpredictable. In 2002, legislative controls on greenhouse gas emissions look some way away; until the single most profli­gate country on Earth, the United States, accepts the economic necessity of controls, meaningful reductions in emissions on a global scale look unlikely. But a better understanding of the under­pinning science, and a greater awareness among the population of the realities of this science, can only enhance the possibility of controls being agreed.

In conceiving this book, and in putting it to­gether, we draw upon our experiences as universi­ty teachers of atmospheric science. We see great enthusiasm on the part of our students to under­stand these major environmental issues. Ozone

depletion, and air pollution in general, and climate change, excite the imagination and stir the con­science. However, teaching the underpinning, and all important, basic scientific principles is much more difficult, and hence one of our aims with this project was to provide both the underpinning science and the more appealing applications.

The first 12 chapters of the book provide an up-to-date account of the background, the principles of atmospheric science. They cover the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the chemistry that occurs within the atmosphere. They also emphasize the physical processes at work in the atmosphere, the energy balance, and the Earth's resultant climate and meteorology. The sources of air pollution and the ways in which pollutants are transformed and removed from the atmosphere are also covered.

The second half of the book tackles the major problems current in the atmosphere and describes the tools used to understand these problems and their applications. There are chapters on air pollu­tion at the urban, regional, and global scales, meas­uring and monitoring techniques, the modeling of air pollution and of climate, and the use of critical loads as a tool for air quality management.

We hope this book allows the reader to obtain a clear and firm understanding of the principles of the atmospheric sciences, both physical and chemical, and of their application to understanding and predicting the Earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate and Man's pollution and modification of it.

Handbook of Atmospheric Science: Principles and Applications edited by C. N. Hewitt, A. V. Jackson (Blackwell) The alarming consequences of global climate change have highlighted the need to take urgent steps to combat the causes of air pollution. Hence, understanding the Earth's atmosphere is a vital component in Man's emerging quest for developing sustainable modes of behavior in the 21st century.

Written by a team of expert scientists, the Handbook of Atmospheric Science provides a broad and up-to-date account of our understanding of the natural processes that occur within the atmosphere. It examines how human activities have had a detrimental effect on the climate, and how measures may be implemented in order to modify these activities. Handbook of Atmospheric Science progresses through chapters covering the principles of atmospheric science and the current problems of air pollution at the urban, regional, and global scales, to the tools and applications used to understand air pollution.

The Handbook of Atmospheric Science offers an excellent overview of this multidisciplinary subject and should prove invaluable to both students and researchers of atmospheric science, air pollution, and global change.

Understanding and predicting the behavior of the Earth's atmosphere, as it manifests itself in the endless variations of weather and climate, has exercised us since the beginning of time, and indeed the systematic study of the atmosphere is one of the oldest sciences. From our first tenta­tive, and maybe unintentional, sea voyages, to the present time, understanding the behavior of the at­mosphere has literally meant the difference be­tween life and death. In the past few decades, the study of the atmosphere has gained a new dimen­sion, as it has become apparent that we are no longer merely a passive observers of weather and climate, but that our activities actively affect the behavior of the atmosphere.

The severity of the effects of human activities on the atmosphere have been amply demonstrated in 1987 by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its subsequent amendments; for the first time governments around the world accepted that the atmosphere is a delicate veil that requires legislative protection from the excesses of industrialization. The time be­tween ozone depletion being first observed, the role of cholorofluorocarbon compounds in ozone deple­tion being explained, and international controls on the emissions of these polluting gases being agreed was remarkably short, and was an excellent exam­ple of the critical importance of the atmospheric sciences. Without measurement and observation techniques being developed and deployed, without an excellent underpinning knowledge of gas phase and heterogeneous chemical reactions, and with­out the scientific vision to link the observed ozone depletion to the emissions of the CFC gases, such rapid protection of the population through legisla­tion would not have been possible.

In many respects, ozone depletion is a problem solved. It will take time for the ozone-depleting substances already in the atmosphere to be re­moved, and although there may be surprises in store, essentially ozone depletion is a twentieth century problem. Of much more immediate concern, and in many respects of much greater concern, is global climate change. Governments around the world now accept that emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other radiatively active gases are changing, and will continue to change, the radiative balance of the Earth's atmos­phere, and hence are changing, and will continue to change, the Earth's climate. Of particular con­cern is the possibility that some of the resultant ef­fects may be large and unpredictable.

In 2002, legislative controls on greenhouse gas emissions look some way away; until the single most profli­gate country on Earth, the United States, accepts the economic necessity of controls, meaningful reductions in emissions on a global scale look unlikely. But a better understanding of the under­pinning science, and a greater awareness among the population of the realities of this science, can only enhance the possibility of controls being agreed.

In conceiving Handbook of Atmospheric Science, one of the editors aims was to provide both the underpinning science and the more appealing applications. The first 12 chapters of the book provide an up-­to-date account of the background, the principles of atmospheric science. They cover the chemical composition of the atmosphere and the chemistry that occurs within the atmosphere. They also emphasize the physical processes at work in the atmosphere, the energy balance, and the Earth's resultant climate and meteorology. The sources of air pollution and the ways in which pollutants are transformed and removed from the atmosphere are also covered.

The second half of the book tackles the major problems current in the atmosphere and describes the tools used to understand these problems and their applications. There are chapters on air pollu­tion at the urban, regional, and global scales, meas­uring and monitoring techniques, the modeling of air pollution and of climate, and the use of critical loads as a tool for air quality management.

Handbook of Atmospheric Science allows us to obtain a clear and firm understanding of the principles of the atmospheric sciences, both physical and chemical, and of their application to understanding and predicting the Earth's atmosphere, weather, and climate and our human pollution and modification of it.

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