Synoptic-Dynamic Meteorology in Midlatitudes, Volume 1 Principles of Kinematics and Dynamics

About this book

Synoptic meteorology is the diagnosis, study, and forecasting of weather using observations of simultaneous weather conditions over a wide area. In this new, comprehensive textbook for graduate and postgraduate meteorology students, the author presents for the first time information that is now considered essential in modern weather forecasting. Drawing on teaching materials from his work at the University of Oklahoma, Bluestein examines the elementary phenomena of synoptic meteorology, from scalar fields to atmospheric kinematics, dynamics, and thermodynamics. A later volume covers the behaviour of extratropical weather systems, fronts and jets, and precipitation systems in midlatitudes.

Contents

PART I: INTRODUCTION; 1. What is Synoptic Meteorology?; 2. Units and Variables; 3. Coordinate Systems; PART II: SCALAR FIELDS AND THEIR KINEMATICS; 1. The Pressure Field; 2. The Temperature and Moisture Fields; 3. The Measurement of Scalar Fields; PART III: KINEMATICS OF THE WIND FIELD; 1. Properties of the Wind Field; 2. Computation of Divergence, Vorticity, and Deformation; 3. Properties of the Three Dimensional Wind Field; 4. Measuring the Wind Field; PART IV: ELEMENTARY ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS AND THERMODYNAMICS; 1. The Law of Motion; 2. The Equation of Continuity; 3. The Thermodynamics Equation; 4. Friction; 5. The Vorticity Equation; 6. Energetics; 7. Thermodynamic Retrieval; PART V: QUASI-GEOSTROPHIC THEORY; 1. Introduction; 2. Estimating the terms in the Vorticity and Thermodynamics Equation; 3. Estimating Vertical Motion from the Observed Wind and Mass Fields; 4. Estimating Local Height Tendencies from the Observed Wind and Mass Fields; 5. The Quasi-Geostrophic Vorticity and Thermodnamic Equations; 6. Derivation of the Quasi-Geostrophic w and Height Tendency Equations; 7. Interpretation of the Quasi-Geostrophic w-Equation; 8. The Quasi-Geostrophic Potential Vorticity Form of the Height-Tendency Equation; 9. Static Stability Effects on Vertical Motion; 10. Interpretation of the Quasi-Geostrophic Height-Tendency Equation; 11. The Effects of Vertical Variations in Static Stability on the Geopotential-Height Tendency

Customer Reviews