Desert Meteorology

About this book

Aridity prevails over more than one third of the land area of the Earth and over a significant fraction of the oceans as well. Yet to date there has been no comprehensive reference volume or textbook dealing with the weather processes that define the character of desert areas. Desert Meteorology fills this gap by treating all aspects of desert weather, such as large-scale and local-scale causes of aridity; precipitation characteristics in deserts; dust storms; floods; climate change in deserts; precipitation processes; desertification; land-surface physics of deserts; numerical modelling of desert atmospheres; and the effect of desert weather on humans.

A summary is provided of the climates and surface properties of the desert areas of the world. The book is written with the assumption that the reader has only a basic knowledge of meteorology, physics and calculus, making it useful to those in a wide range of disciplines. It includes review questions and problems for the student.

Contents

1. Introduction; 2. The atmospheric dynamics of deserts; 3. The climates of the world deserts; 4. Atmospheric and surface energy budgets of deserts; 5. Surface physics of the unvegetated sandy desert landscape; 6. Vegetation effects on desert surface physics; 8. Desert-surface physical properties; 9. Numerical modelling of desert atmospheres; 10. Desert boundary layers; 11. Desert microclimates; 12. Dynamic interactions among desert microclimates; 13. Desert rainfall; 14. Anthropogenic effects on the desert atmosphere; 15. Changes in desert climate; 16. Severe weather in the desert; 17. Effects of deserts on the global environment and other regional environments; 18. Desertification; 19. Biometeorology of humans in desert environments; 20. Optical properties of desert atmospheres; Appendices; References; Index.

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Biography

Tom Warner was a Professor in the Department of Meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University before accepting his current joint appointment with the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Professor Warner's career has involved teaching and research in mesoscale meteorological processes and in numerical weather prediction, and he has published on these subjects in numerous professional journals. His recent research and teaching have focused on atmospheric processes and operational weather prediction in arid areas.