Description
Book SynopsisThis is a textbook for non-atmospheric specialists who work in the coastal zone. Its purpose will be to help coastal environmental, engineering, and planning professionals to understand coastal atmospheric processes. This in turn will allow more effective communication with climate modelers, atmospheric environmental consultants, and members of the media.
The coastal environment is among the most intensively used and chronically abused components of the Earth-ocean-atmosphere system. It is also home to an ever-increasing proportion of humanity with their increasing development, trade, transportation, and industrial activities, amid increasing impacts of natural hazards. The atmosphere is an integral part of the system, with all of the above human activities affecting and being affected by atmospheric processes and hazards. Yet few of the specialists studying the coastal environment have expertise on atmospheric processes, this therefore presents a highly relevant textbook on coastal atmospheric processes.
Table of ContentsPart I. Introduction to Our Coastal Atmosphere
Chapter 1. The Scope and Uniqueness of Our Coastal Atmosphere
Chapter 2. Atmospheric Composition, Structure, and Evolution
Part II. Thermodynamics in Our Coastal Atmosphere
Chapter 3. Energy Transfer / Electromagnetic Radiation
Chapter 4. Temperature
Chapter 5. Application of the Gas Laws in Meteorology
Chapter 6. The Hydrostatic Equation and Adiabatic Processes
Chapter 7. Atmospheric Moisture
Chapter 8. Atmospheric Stability and Potential Temperature
Chapter 9. Measuring and Estimating Atmospheric Stability
Chapter 10. Using Thermodynamic Diagrams in Meteorology
Chapter 11. Clouds.- Chapter 12. Precipitation Processes and Types
Part III. Dynamic Processes in Our Coastal Atmosphere
Chapter 13. Pressure and Winds
Chapter 14. Coriolis Effect
Chapter 15. Effect of Friction
Chapter 16. The Gradient Wind
Chapter 17. Gravitation
Chapter 18. The Seven Basic Equations in Weather Forecasting Models
Chapter 19. Comparison of Weather Forecasting Models and GCMs
Chapter 20. General Circulation of the Atmosphere
Part IV. Weather Systems in Our Coastal Zone
Chapter 21. Air Masses
Chapter 22. Atmospheric Lifting Mechanisms
Chapter 23. Fronts and the Mid-latitude Wave Cyclone
Chapter 24. Thunderstorms
Chapter 25. Lightning
Chapter 26. Tornadoes and Waterspouts
Chapter 27. Advising the Public about the Severe Weather Risk
Chapter 28. Tropical Cyclones
Chapter 29. Coastal Flooding
Chapter 30. Coastal Drought
Chapter 31. Winter Storms
Chapter 32. Sea Ice and Weather Systems
Chapter 33. Summary of Energy Transfer by Atmospheric Motion
Part V. Atmospheric Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Interaction
Chapter 34. Introduction to the Near-surface Atmosphere
Chapter 35. The Logarithmic Wind Profile in Neutral Stability Conditions
Chapter 36. The Non-neutral or Diabatic Wind Profile
Chapter 37. Introduction to the Transition (or Ekman) Layer
Chapter 38. The Classical Solution to the Atmospheric Ekman Spiral
Chapter 39. The Modified Ekman Spiral Solution in the Atmosphere
Chapter 40. Fundamentals of Air-Sea Interactions
Chapter 41. Weather Effects on the Ocean
Chapter 42. Wind Stress and Turbulent Flux Drag Coefficients over Water Surfaces
Part VI. Air-Sea-Land Interaction
Chapter 43. Surface Fluxes of Energy, Moisture, and Momentum
Chapter 44. Sea and Land Breezes
Chapter 45. Coastal Fog
Chapter 46. Coastal Upwelling and Weather
Chapter 47. Atmospheric Impacts on Lake Processes
Chapter 48. Coastal Jets
Chapter 49. Atmospheric Optical Effects in Our Coastal Zone
Part VII. Planning and Engineering Applications
Chapter 50. Atmospheric Dispersion in Our Coastal Zone
Chapter 51. Meteorology and Climatology of Coastal Cities
Chapter 52. Engineering Aspects of the Wind Profile
Appendix A. Système International Units Commonly Used in Meteorology
Appendix B. “Retired” Atlantic-Caribbean-Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Names
Index
