Principles of Environmental Physics

About this book

Environmental Physics concerns the description and analysis of physical processes that establish the conditions in which all species of life survive and reproduce. The subject involves a synthesis of mathematical relations that describe the physical nature of the environment and the many biological responses that environments evoke. "Environmental Physics" thus provides a basis for understanding the complex responses of plants and animals to environmental change. International concern with climate change has made both politicians and the general public much more aware of the impact of local and global weather on all aspects of domestic life, industry and commerce.

Principles of Environmental Physics has become more widely used by biologists, atmospheric scientists and climate modellers to specify interactions between surfaces and the atmosphere. This new edition contains further material on causes of global warming, applications of remote sensing, and the carbon and water cycles of crops and forests. It presents a unique synthesis of micrometeorology and ecology in its widest sense; deals quantitatively with the impact of weather on living systems but also with the interactions between them that are a central feature of life on earth; includes an up-to-date bibliography and review of recent micrometeorological applications in forestry, ecology, hydrology and agriculture; and includes numerical problems and worked examples.

Contents

- Scope of Environmental Physics
- Gas Laws
- Transport Laws
- Radiation Environment
- Microclimatology of Radiation (i) Interception
- Microclimatology of Radiation (ii) Absorbtion and reflection
- Momentum Transfer
- Heat Transfer
- Mass Transfer (i) Gases and water vapour
- Mass Transfer (ii) particles
- Steady State Heat Balance (i) Water Surfaces
- Steady State Heat Balance (ii) Animals
- Transient Heat Balance
- Crop Micrometerology (i) Profiles and fluxes
- Crop Micrometeorology (ii) Interpretation of measurements
- Appendix
- Bibliography
- References
- Index

Customer Reviews