Understanding Weather and Climate

The book emphasizes a non-mathematical understanding of physical principles as a vehicle for learning about atmospheric processes. Additionally, difficult-to-visualize topics are reinforced with a series of software tutorials presented on a CD-ROM packaged with the book. Focuses on explanation about, rather than description of, the processes that produce Earth's weather and climate. Software tutorials are keyed to the following topics: Solar Geometry; Global Energy Balance; Atmospheric Moisture; Adiabatic Processes; The Coriolis Force; Atmospheric Forces and Motion; Wind and Pressure Aloft; Cyclones and Anti-Cyclones.

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New edition of a meteorology text that bridges the gap between abstract explanatory processes and their expression in everyday events. In the 16 chapters, Aguado (San Diego State U.) and Burt (U. of Wisconsin-Madison) emphasize scientific literacy in a discussion of energy and mass, water in the atmosphere, distribution and movement of air, disturbances, human activities, and current, past, and future climates. Contains color illustrations and maps. The included CD-ROM provides tutorials, three-dimensional diagrams and animations of difficult-to-visualize material, weather images, a media library, and short interactive exercises. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ed Aguado is a Professor of Geography at San Diego State University. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1983, and his research interests include Precipitation and Hydrology of Western U.S. Mountains. He is also involved in consulting and is an expert witness on climatology and weather.

Jim Burt is a Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He earned his Ph.D. in Geography from UCLA in 1980, and his research areas include Physical Geography, Climatology, Quantitative Methods, and Geovisualization. He is the Co-principal investigator for SoLIM (Soil Land Inference Model) for soil mapping based on recent developments in geographic information science (GISc), artificial intelligence (AI), and information representation theory.