Customer Reviews

A Short Course in Cloud Physics, Third Edition (International Series in Natural Philosophy)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are very few stand-alone cloud physics text books on the market. More often than not only a chapter is devoted to clouds in a general atmospheric sciences text book, which grossly neglects the complexity of the subject. Fortunately this one does provide a terrific introduction for students/researchers in atmospheric sciences/physics/engineering who want to learn more about clouds. Basic concepts are presented in a consice but often mathy way. Sometimes the empirical equations can throw the readers off a bit. Unfortunately these catches are almost inevitable in cloud physics.

A great merit of this book is its size. A well-designed undergraduate course can definitely go through most of the topics. At the same time there is enough detailed information that the interested instructors and students can develop term projects or simple models using the book as a reference. In all I highly recommend this text as an introduction to cloud physics. Advanced researchers in the field, however, will need a more extensive reference, such as Pruppacher and Klett.

This book provides a nice introduction to the physics involved with clouds. It is fairly heavy on the math in some chapters and more descriptive in others. It also provides mathematical and descriptive definitions for many common meteorology terms. The problems at the end of the chapters are challenging. The example problems in the text are too few and too simple to allow the concepts to be easily applied in the problems at the end of the chapters, however, all of the neccesary information is present. Overall the book is very helpful.

As an engineer trying to come up to speed on cloud physics, this book was absolutely essential. It covers essentials such as the thermodynamics of dry air, water vapor and its thermodynamic effects, parcel buoyancy and atmospheric stability, mixing and convection, observed properties of clouds, formation of cloud droplets, droplet growth by condensation, initiation of rain in nonfreezing clouds, formation and growth of ice crystals, rain and snow, weather radar, precipitation processes, severe storms and hail, weather modification, and numerical weather models.

This is the best introductory text one can buy.

While this is the 'stand alone' book on cloud physics it could use an update. Some of the answers to problems in the back are incorrect and the problems are very difficult/hard to process based on information given in the text. Variables are defined once in-text with no other reference unless they change and no nomenclature section is given. While the content is good this makes it hard to follow, but this could be easily remedied!

R. R. Rogers and M. K. Yau develop and demonstrate the concepts of thermodynamics and transport processes that control formation of rain, hail, snow and fog. The book is concise, yet precise, and provides a coherent course material for cloud physics. The book introduces the essential thermodynamics in first four chapters. The next four chapters describe the journey from water vapor phase to initiation of rain. Next two chapters deal with formation of ice crystals and snow, again borrowing from knowledge imparted in first eight chapters. The next four chapters deal with weather, weather modification, storms and hail. The last chapter introduces numerical cloud models, which have proved to be increasingly useful in studying precipitation processes.

For an engineer or a physicist, the first few chapters demonstrate how their knowledge can be translated into understanding of atmospheric physics. The mathematics in the book, as well as examples, are limited to dealing with the essential concepts. The language is simple, even when concepts are far-ranging, showing how complex phenomenon can be assimilated and described through knowledge of key principles.

"A History of Theories of Rain" by Middleton shows how cloud physics progressed through centuries and benefited from misunderstandings and geniuses of some of the best minds of past centuries: Clausius, Atkins, Lord Rayleigh, Hutton, Langmuir, Weller, Arab scholars of Xth century, Aristotle, Stokes, and so on. The text by Rogers and Yau presents the essence of understanding developed through contributions from innumerable thinkers, experimentalists and scientists. Highly recommended for beginners and for curious minds interesting in understanding the physics of rain, hail and snow.

The homework problems at the end of the chapter are impossible o figure out form the text, but at least they give you some solutions.