Format:
X, 365 Seiten
,
Illustrationen
ISBN:
0471982911
,
0-471-98291-1
Series Statement:
Wiley praxis series in atmospheric physics and climatology
Uniform Title:
La Dynamiqie du temps et du climat
Content:
This is an up-to-date textbook on meteorology ond climatology with a fresh, unconventional view of the workings of the climate system, in which the author poses serious questions about the validity of certain aspects of current global warming theory.
The book is divided into three parts. In Part I the author discusses general circulation in the troposphere. He argues that such circulation is driven by thermal deficil at the poles, causing Moving Polar Highs (MPHsl, which have the principal role of feeding cold air towards the tropics, This in turn causes warm air to move up towards the poles. The relief and distribution of land masses, and the Earth's rotation, control the trajectories of the MPHs, and the formation of Anticyclonic Agglutinations (AAs). The latter determine the properties of tropical circulation, the trade winds, and tropical monsoons.
These discussions lead, in Part II, 10 a consideration of the dynamics of the weather through the study of perturbations, including precipitation, the role of MPHs in polar and temperate regions and at tropical margins, pulsations in the trade winds and monsoons, the concept of the meteorologIcal Equator, and tropical cyclones.
Part Ill reviews the causes of climatic variations, including solar activity, variations relating to the Earth's orbit and axial inclination, volcanic eruptions and the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. The book concludes with a discussion of Palaeoclimatic variations and recent climatic evolution, including the Sahelian drought, changes in polar and alpine glaciers, and the El Niño/Southern Oscillation,
Note:
MAB0014.001: AWI A6-99-0156
,
Includes bibliographic references and index
,
Table of contents
1. Introduction: Perceptions of weather and climate
1.1 Meteorology and/or climatology?
1.2 Perceptions of reality: schools of thought
1.3 Inadequacies in schools of thought, and associated problems
1.4 The approach ofthis book
Part I GENERAL CIRCULATION IN THE TROPOSPHERE
2. Radiation
2.1 Processes of radiation
2.2 The greenhouse effect
2.3 The shape and motions of the Earth
2.4 The geographical factor
2.5 Conclusion
3. Circulation in the lower layers of the troposphere
3.1 Circulation in high and mid-latitudes: MPHs
Perception of circulation in high and mid-latitudes
The existence of mobile anticyclones
Mobile Polar Highs (MPHs)
The polar thermal deficit
The birth of MPHs
MPH trajectories
The MPH-associated wind field
3.2 Anticyclonic agglutinations (AAs)
A look at the so-called "subtropical" high-pressure areas
Meridional transport by MPHs and anticyclonic agglutination (AA)
Oceanic and continental anticyclonic agglutinations
3.3 Tropical circulation
A look at tropical circulation
Pressure and wind fields over the tropics
The trade wind
Trade winds
The monsoon
Monsoons
4. General circulation
4.1 General circulation: evolution of ideas
4.2 Areas of circulation in the lower layers
4.3 General circulation in the troposphere
The mean tropospheric picture
Seasonal variation in circulation
Aerological stratification
4.4 Zonal "Walker" circulation: myth or reality?
4.5 General circulation: conclusion
Part II DYNAMICS OF THE WEATHER: PERTURBATIONS
5. Pluviogenesis
5.1 Precipitation potential
5.2 Origin of an updraft
The thermal factor
The dynamical factor
5.3 Structuralconditions
6. Dynamics of weather in polar and temperate regions: MPHs
6.1 Perception of the "perturbed field" in high and mid-latitudes
6.2 The MPH: pressure field and wind field
6.3 Weather associated with an MPH
6.4 MPHs and the ''polar front"
6.5 Interactions between MPHs
6.6 Dynamics of weather in North America
6.7 Dynamics of weather in France
MPHs and relief
Winter dynamics
Summer dynamics
6.8 Dynamics of weather in temperate and polar regions: conclusion
7. MPHs at tropical margins
7.1 The temperate-tropical boundary
7.2 Mechanisms
7.3 North and Central America
7.4 South America
7.5 Nmthern Africa, Arabia and India
7.6 Southern Africa
7.7 Eastern Asia
7.8 Australia
7.9 Conclusion
8. Pulses in trades and monsoons
8 1 Trade winds and "easterly waves"
8.2 Vertical structure of the trades
8.3 Pulses in the trades
Maritime trades
The continental trade wind
8.4 Pulses in the monsoon
9. The meteorological equator
9.1 The meteorological equator: the evolution of a concept
9.2 The inclined meteorological equator (IME)
9.3 IME activity: squall line.s (SL)
9.4 The vertical meteorological equator (VME)
9.5 The meteorological equator over continents: IME and VME
10. Tropical cyclones
10.1 Cyclone structure and associated weather
10.2 Conditions for cyclogenesis
10.3 The geography of tropical cyclones
Part III DYNAMICS OF CLIMATE: CLIMATIC EVOLUTION
The global climatic system
11. Causes of climatic variations
11.1 Variations in solar activity
The sunspot cycle
Solar activity and climate
11.2 Orbital parameters of radiation
Variation of the Earth-Sun distance, or eccentricity of the Earth's orbit
Variation of the angle of inclination of the Earth's polar axis
Variation of the direction of the polar axis, or precession of the equinoxes
Orbital parameters and climatic evolution
11.3 Volcanism and climate
Volcanic emissions and ejecta (silicates and sulphates)
Optical radiative and thermal effects
11.4 The anthropic greenhouse effect
The anthropic greenhouse effect: predictions from models
Predictions and observations
Recent climatic change does not conform to the "greenhouse effect"scenario
Conclusion on the causes of climatic change
12. Palaeoclimatic variations and modes of general circulation
12.1 A Palaeoenvironments in Africa
Present-day dynamics of climate in Africa
The palaeoenvironment of Africa at the time of the LGM (18- 15 kyr BP)
The palaeoenvironment of Africa at the time of the HCO (9-6 kyr BP)
Palaeometeorological interpretation
12.2 Variations in insolation and in modes of general circulation
Variations in insolation at high latitudes
Rapid general circulation
Slow general circulation
Glaciation and deglaciation
Palaeocirculations over Africa
Circulation at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum
Circulation at the time of the Holocene Climatic Optimum
Conclusion
13. Recent climatic evolution
Recent climatic evolution in France
13.1 Dynamics of the great Sahel drought
Sahelian pluviogenesis
Causes of the great drought
The southward movement of pluviogenetic structures
13.2 Climatic evolution in the North Atlantic/Europe/Mediterranean space
Recent regional climatic evolutions
Dynamics of weather and climate in the North Atlantic space
Conclusion
Polar and Alpine glaciers
13. 3 Dynamics of the Pacific space - El Niño
Aerological dynamics of the North Pacific space
The "El Niño phenomenon"
The components of El Niño in the eastern Pacific
The origin of torrential rains in northern Peru
The components of El Niño in the tropical Pacific
The increasing frequency of the El Niño phenomenon
13.4 The expansion of the northern meteorological hemisphere
Climatic consequences in the tropics
Lack of rainfall at norhern tropical margins
The inverse relationship between northern and southern tropical rainfall
Greatly increased cyclonic activity south of the equator
"Global warning"? Climatic perspectives
14. General conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Language:
English
Keywords:
Lehrbuch
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