Kategoria BISAC: Science >> Earth Sciences - Meteorology & Climatology

The Mediterranean basin represents one of the most important "hot spots" of climate change in the world, with recent trends towards a hotter and drier climate being related to changes in atmospheric circulation patterns. Such changes can have significant impacts in the climate of this region but also on the natural environment and several socioeconomic activities. Among these patterns, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is one of the main forcing factors in the region with impact on extreme events such as droughts, severe precipitations or heat and cold waves, the availability of water...

Developments in three-dimensional cloud radiation over the past few decades are assessed and distilled into this contributed volume. Chapters are authored by subject-matter experts who address a broad audience of graduate students, researchers, and anyone interested in cloud-radiation processes in the solar and infrared spectral regions. After two introductory chapters and a section on the fundamental physics and computational techniques, the volume extensively treats two main application areas: the impact of clouds on the Earth's radiation budget, which is an essential aspect of climate...

Eugene Sharkov, of the Space Research Institute in Moscow, has here put together the most comprehensive description of the physical findings of an investigation into the spatio-temporal characteristics of the gravity of breaking waves. He s also described the foam activity in the open sea using methods and instruments of optical and microwave remote sensing. Numerous practical applications and illustrations are provided from air-borne, ship-borne and laboratory up-to-date experiments.

Transports in fluids can be approached from two complementary perspectives. In the Eulerian view of mixing, the focus is on the concentration field. In the Langrangian view, fluid parcels are followed around as they move with the flow, experiencing chaotic or stochastic motion. This book examines both pictures, presenting a number of theoretical and experimental lectures on various aspects of transport and mixing of active and passive particles in geophysical flows.

Covering an area of over 130 million km² spanning the Mediterranean, equator and tropics, the African continent features a spectacular geographic diversity. Consequently, it is characterised by extremely variable climatic, edaphic and ecological conditions, associated with a wide range of natural vegetation and wildlife, as well as human population density, crops and livestock.

In this book, Henry Le Houerou presents his bioclimatic and biogeographic classification of Africa. The extensive data provide the basis for comparisons between various African regions, and with...