This is the first modern textbook devoted solely to mesoscale-convective processes in the atmosphere. Such processes are realized in the form of thunderstorms and associated phenomena. Thunderstorms are dynamic and fast evolving and can have high societal impact. For this reason it is becoming increasingly important that current and future generations of atmospheric scientists have a deep understanding of the dynamics, observations and prediction of these phenomena. Unlike others currently available, Mesoscale-Convective Processes in the Atmosphere also provides in-depth discussions of the observations and prediction of extreme and hazardous convective weather, as well as its dynamical evolution. Mesoscale-Convective Processes in the Atmosphere provides advanced students, researchers and weather professionals with a modern, accessible treatment of the convective processes that lie within the range of the atmospheric mesoscale.
1. The atmospheric mesoscale
2. Theoretical foundations
3. Observations and mesoscale data analysis
4. Mesoscale numerical modeling
5. The initiation of deep convective clouds
6. Elemental convective processes
7. Supercells: a special class of long-lived rotating convective storms
8. Mesoscale convective systems
9. Interactions and feedbacks
10. Mesoscale predictability and prediction
Robert J. Trapp received his Ph.D. in Meteorology from The University of Oklahoma in 1994. He was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow, and then was appointed as a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies and the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Part of this appointment was spent at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Trapp joined the faculty at Purdue University in 2003: he is currently Professor and Associated Head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. He holds the distinction as a University Faculty Scholar, awarded to outstanding faculty members who are on an accelerated path for academic distinction. Trapp has also been recognized as an Outstanding Teacher in the College of Science, and has appeared on his departmental teaching honor roll in every semester of his tenure at Purdue. He is an expert on convective storms, their attendant hazards, and their two-way interaction with the larger-scale atmosphere.