Clouds and Climate

Clouds and Climate PDF Author: A. Pier Siebesma
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781107447738
Category : Clouds
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
"Clouds have always fascinated humans, but never has the need to understand them been so vital. As global surface temperature increases, human activities influence particulate matter in the atmosphere, and the properties of the land surface, clouds are expected to change, with manifold consequences for the climate. Clouds influence climate through their regulation of radiant energy transfer, through their role in convective energy transport, and in mediating the water cycle. Cloud research has never been so exciting. It is a topic with many new opportunities. New satellite observations from space with active instruments such as lidar and radar allow for the first time to reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of clouds across Earth. Likewise, numerical simulations are beginning to globally resolve the three spatial dimensions of clouds as well as their dynamic evolution. This is enabling researchers, for the first time, to link the smallscale cloud processes and the basic laws that govern them to the general circulation of the atmosphere. These new types of observations, and simulation, are enabling researchers to distinguish how different cloud types influence the climate, and are guiding conceptual representations of their collective behaviour"--

Clouds and Climate

Clouds and Climate PDF Author: A. Pier Siebesma
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781107447738
Category : Clouds
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Clouds have always fascinated humans, but never has the need to understand them been so vital. As global surface temperature increases, human activities influence particulate matter in the atmosphere, and the properties of the land surface, clouds are expected to change, with manifold consequences for the climate. Clouds influence climate through their regulation of radiant energy transfer, through their role in convective energy transport, and in mediating the water cycle. Cloud research has never been so exciting. It is a topic with many new opportunities. New satellite observations from space with active instruments such as lidar and radar allow for the first time to reconstruct the three-dimensional distribution of clouds across Earth. Likewise, numerical simulations are beginning to globally resolve the three spatial dimensions of clouds as well as their dynamic evolution. This is enabling researchers, for the first time, to link the smallscale cloud processes and the basic laws that govern them to the general circulation of the atmosphere. These new types of observations, and simulation, are enabling researchers to distinguish how different cloud types influence the climate, and are guiding conceptual representations of their collective behaviour"--

Atmosphere, Clouds, and Climate

Atmosphere, Clouds, and Climate PDF Author: David Randall
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400842778
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
An essential primer on atmospheric processes and their important role in the climate system The atmosphere is critical to climate change. It can amplify shifts in the climate system, and also mitigate them. This primer offers a short, reader-friendly introduction to these atmospheric processes and how they work, written by a leading expert on the subject. Giving readers an overview of key atmospheric processes, David Randall looks at how our climate system receives energy from the sun and sheds it by emitting infrared radiation back into space. The atmosphere regulates these radiative energy flows and transports energy through weather systems such as thunderstorms, monsoons, hurricanes, and winter storms. Randall explains how these processes work, and also how precipitation, cloud formation, and other phase changes of water strongly influence weather and climate. He discusses how atmospheric feedbacks affect climate change, how the large-scale atmospheric circulation works, how predicting the weather and the climate are fundamentally different challenges, and much more. This is the ideal introduction for students and nonspecialists. No prior experience in atmospheric science is needed, only basic college physics. Authoritative and concise, Atmosphere, Clouds, and Climate features a glossary of terms, suggestions for further reading, and easy-to-follow explanations of a few key equations. This accessible primer is the essential introduction to atmospheric processes and the vital role they play in our climate system.

An Introduction to Clouds

An Introduction to Clouds PDF Author: Ulrike Lohmann
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316586251
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
An Introduction to Clouds provides a fundamental understanding of clouds, ranging from cloud microphysics to the large-scale impacts of clouds on climate. On the microscale, phase changes and ice nucleation are covered comprehensively, including aerosol particles and thermodynamics relevant for the formation of clouds and precipitation. At larger scales, cloud dynamics, mid-latitude storms and tropical cyclones are discussed leading to the role of clouds on the hydrological cycle and climate. Each chapter ends with problem sets and multiple-choice questions that can be completed online, and important equations are highlighted in boxes for ease of reference. Combining mathematical formulations with qualitative explanations of underlying concepts, this accessible book requires relatively little previous knowledge, making it ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in atmospheric science, environmental sciences and related disciplines.

Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions

Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions PDF Author: Peter V. Hobbs
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 0080959962
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
Aerosol and clouds play important roles in determining the earth's climate, in ways that we are only beginning to comprehend. In conjunction with molecular scattering from gases, aerosol and clouds determine in part what fraction of solar radiation reaches the earth's surface, and what fraction of the longwave radiation from the earth escapes to space. This book provides an overview of the latest research on atmospheric aerosol and clouds and their effects on global climate. Subjects reviewed include the direct and indirect effects of aerosol on climate, the radiative properties of clouds and their effects on the Earth's radiation balance, the incorporation of cloud effects in numerical weather prediction models, and stratospheric aerosol and clouds.

Clouds and Climate

Clouds and Climate PDF Author: A. Pier Siebesma
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108882781
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
Cloud research is a rapidly developing branch of climate science that's vital to climate modelling. With new observational and simulation technologies our knowledge of clouds and their role in the warming climate is accelerating. This book provides a comprehensive overview of research on clouds and their role in our present and future climate, covering theoretical, observational, and modelling perspectives. Part I discusses clouds from three different perspectives: as particles, light and fluid. Part II describes our capability to model clouds, ranging from theoretical conceptual models to applied parameterised representations. Part III describes the interaction of clouds with the large-scale circulation in the tropics, mid-latitudes, and polar regions. Part IV describes how clouds are perturbed by aerosols, the land-surface, and global warming. Each chapter contains end-of-chapter exercises and further reading sections, making this an ideal resource for advanced students and researchers in climatology, atmospheric science, meteorology, and climate change.

Clouds and Climate

Clouds and Climate PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatology
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description


Clouds in Climate

Clouds in Climate PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Climatology
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description


Clouds, Chemistry and Climate

Clouds, Chemistry and Climate PDF Author: Paul J. Crutzen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364261051X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
The objective of this NATO Advanced Research Workshop was to discuss our current understanding of the role of clouds in climate and chemistry. The range of topics dis cussed during the workshop included: modeling of clouds in GCMs; observations of the cloud micro physical properties; the water vapor cycle; troposphere-stratosphere exchange; role of in-cloud transport in tropospheric ozone; regulation of current and paleo climate by clouds; and anthropogenic sulfate aerosols and modification of cloud properties. The essence of the discussions is captured in the accompanying summary by the rapporteurs and the chapters by some of the speakers. The underlying message is that significant progress has been made, resulting in exciting new developments in our perception of the role of clouds in the global system . .. The tropical convective-cirrus cloud systems emerge as a major influence on the climate system. Micro physical processes, such as the rate of precipitation and re evaporation of ice particles, seem to regulate the large scale vertical distribution of water vapor which is the dominant greenhouse gas. Water vapor data collected during the Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment (CEPEX), document the large moistening effect of deep convection on scales of thousands of kilometers. A major chemical finding in the same region was the observation of extremely low ozone 8 volume mixing ratios of less than 10- in the entire troposphere of the central equatorial Pacific extending over a distance of about 2000 km. This finding establishes the Pacific as a major chemical sink region for tropospheric ozone.

Understanding Climate

Understanding Climate PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atmospheric radiation
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description


The Climate Modelling Primer

The Climate Modelling Primer PDF Author: Kendal McGuffie
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118747186
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
As a consequence of recent increased awareness of the social and political dimensions of climate, many non-specialists discover a need for information about the variety of available climate models. A Climate Modelling Primer, Fourth Edition is designed to explain the basis and mechanisms of all types of current physically-based climate models. A thoroughly revised and updated edition, this book will assist the reader in understanding the complexities and applicabilities of today’s wide range of climate models. Topics covered include the latest techniques for modelling the coupled biosphere-ocean-atmosphere system, information on current practical aspects of climate modelling and ways to evaluate and exploit the results, discussion of Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity (EMICs), and interactive exercises based on Energy Balance Model (EBM) and the Daisyworld model. Source codes and results from a range of model types allows readers to make their own climate simulations and to view the results of the latest high resolution models. Now in full colour throughout and with the addition of cartoons to enhance student understanding the new edition of this successful textbook enables the student to tackle the difficult subject of climate modeling.