Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Account for the differences between the environmental, dry adiabatic and saturated adiabatic
lapse rates.
•
What processes determine the presence of stability and instability in the troposphere?
•
What factors cause air to ascend/descend on small and large scales and what are the associated
weather outcomes?
•
Maintain a record of cloud type and amount over several days and compare what you observe
with the cloud cover shown for your location on satellite imagery from an appropriate website
(see Appendix 4D).
•
Make a cross-section of terrain height and precipitation amounts at stations along a height
transect in your own region/country. Use daily, monthly or annual data as available. In addition,
note the prevailing wind direction with respect to the mountains/hills.
•
From national records/websites, examine the occurrence of convective systems (thunderstorms,
tornadoes, lightning) in your country and determine whether they are air mass storms connected
with frontal lows, or mesoscale convective systems.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER
READING
Strahler, A. N. (1965) Introduction to Physical Geo-
graphy, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 455pp.
World Meteorological Organization (1956) Inter-
national Cloud Atlas, Geneva. [Cloud classifica-
tion and photographs of all sky types]
Books
Byers, H. R. and Braham, R. R. (1949) The Thunder-
storm, US Weather Bureau. [Classic study of
thunderstorm processes]
Cotton, W. R. and Anthes, R. A. (1989) Storm and
Cloud Dynamics, Academic Press, San Diego,
CA, 883pp. [Discusses cloud types and physical
and dynamical processes, mesoscale struc-
tures, and the effects of mountains on airflow
and cloud formation]
Kessler, E. (ed.) (1986) Thunderstorm Morphology
and Dynamics, University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman, OK, 411pp. [Comprehensive accounts
by leading experts on convection and its model-
ing, all aspects of thunderstorm processes and
occurrence in different environments, hail,
lightning and tornadoes]
Ludlam, F. H. (1980) Clouds and Storms. The
Behavior and Effect of Waterin the Atmosphere,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
and London, 405pp. [A monumental work by a
renowned specialist]
Mason, B. J. (1975) Clouds, Rain and Rainmaking
(2nd edn), Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge and New York,189pp. [Valuable
overview by a leading cloud physicist]
Petterssen, S. (1969) Introduction to Meteorology,
3rd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York, 416pp.
Articles
Andersson, T. (1980) Bergeron and the oreigenic
(orographic) maxima of precipitation. Pure
Appl. Geophys. 119, 558-76.
Bennetts, D. A., McCallum, E. and Grant, J. R. (1986)
Cumulonimbus clouds: an introductory review.
Met. Mag. 115, 242-56.
Bergeron, T. (1960) Problems and methods of rain-
fall investigation, in The Physics of Precipitation,
Geophysical Monograph 5, Amer. Geophys.
Union, Washington, DC, 5-30.
Bering, E. A. III., Few, A. A. and Benbrook, J. R. (1998
The global electric circuit. Physics Today 51(9),
24-30.
Braham, R. R. (1959) How does a raindrop grow?
Science129, 123-9.
Browning, K. A. (1980) Local weather forecasting.
Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. Sect. A371, 179-211.
Browning, K. A. (1985) Conceptual models of
precipitation systems. Met. Mag.114, 293-319.
Browning, K. A. and Hill, F. F. (1981) Orographic rain.
Weather36, 326-9.
Brugge, R. (1996) Back to basics. Atmospheric
stability: Part 1. Basic concepts. Weather51(4),
134-40.
