Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Atmospheric Modeling

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This is Mr. Jacobson's latest update to his unique text on the mathematical modeling of the atmosphere. I think it would be impossible to fully utilize this book if you have not already mastered college level physics, organic chemistry, calculus, both ordinary and partial differential equations, and numerical analysis and have some knowledge of atmospheric science. There are plenty of computer projects spread throughout this book too, so I guess a further requirement would be familiarity with a programming language, preferably MATLAB. This book basically merges all of these fields together in order to develop numerical models of atmospheric behavior. In fact, it looks like it would be a tough read for anyone who is not a graduate student of both atmospheric science and mathematics. By cross-referencing this book's material with old textbooks I was able to get through chapter 5 OK, but I hit a wall when I got to the material on numerical solutions to partial differential equations in chapter six. My advice for scientists and engineers that need to know more about the atmosphere, meteorology, and the accompanying mathematics so that they can do some modeling but don't have the Ph.D. pedigree necessary to get the most out of this book might want to invest in two other particular volumes:
1. "Meteorology Today : An Introduction to Weather, Climate, and the Environment" by Ahrens. It is well-written and easy to read. Plus, it splits the difference between science-fair style books written for high schoolers and terse texts that read like a Ph.D. thesis. Buy it used without the CD or Infotrak and save yourself some money though!
2. "Meteorology for Scientists and Engineers : A Technical Companion Book to C. Donald Ahrens' Meteorology Today" by Stull. It provides the mathematical equations needed for a higher level of understanding of meteorology. The organization is mapped directly to the Ahrens book, and it contains detailed math and physics that expand upon concepts presented in Ahrens' text, as well as numerous solved problems.
Amazon does not have the table of contents for the latest edition of Jacobson's book, so I show that here:
1 Introduction
2 Atmospheric structure, composition, and thermodynamics
3 The continuity and thermodynamic energy equations
4 The momentum equation in Cartesian & spherical coordinates
5 Vertical-coordinate conversions
6 Numerical solutions to partial differential equations
7 Finite-differencing the equations of atmospheric dynamics
8 Boundary-layer and surface processes
9 Radiative energy transfer
10 Gas-phase species, chemical reactions, and reaction rates
11 Urban, free-tropospheric, and stratospheric chemistry
12 Methods of solving chemical ODE's
13 Particle components, size distributions, and size structures
14 Aerosol emission and nucleation
15 Coagulation
16 Condensation, evaporation, deposition, and sublimation
17 Chemical equilibrium and dissolution processes
18 Cloud thermodynamics and dynamics
19 Irreversible aqueous chemistry
20 Sedimentation, dry deposition, and air-sea exchange
21 Model design, application, and testing