This 1982 book consists of papers presented at the World Climate Research Programme study conference on land surface processes held in Greenbelt, Maryland from 5 to 10 January 1981. The papers cover the following: the state of knowledge of the sensitivity of atmospheric general circulation models on hydrology and other land surface processes: assessment of the state of knowledge of numerical modelling of hydrology and other land surface processes at the scale of atmospheric general circulation models; recommendations for research activities; establishment of data requirements for initialization, validation, and parameter evaluation. This book will continue to be of interest to atmospheric scientists, soil physicists, hydrologists and climatologists.

General circulation model (GCM) experiments in the late 1970's indicated that the climate is sensitive to variations in evaporation at the land surface. Thus, in the context of climate modeling, it became important to develop techniques which would realistically estimate the evaporation flux on land. Land Surface Evaporation: Measurement and Parameterization discusses strategies for the use of experimental data in developing and testing parameterization schemes of the evaporation flux in GCM's. The book reviews state-of-the-art techniques, such as remote sensing, which measure evaporation fluxes over continental surfaces. It evaluates their relevance with respect to the various spatial and temporal scales of interest. This book will provide researchers in climatology, meteorology, hydrology and water management, and remote sensing with a thorough overview of current research in land surface evaporation. It will also give young scientists insight into surface processes.

Climate and Life

Presenting a comprehensive discussion of general circulation models of the atmosphere, this book covers their historical and contemporary development, their societal context, and current efforts to integrate these models into wider earth-system models. Leading researchers provide unique perspectives on the scientific breakthroughs, overarching themes, critical applications, and future prospects for atmospheric general circulation models. Key interdisciplinary links to other subject areas such as chemistry, oceanography and ecology are also highlighted. This book is a core reference for academic researchers and professionals involved in atmospheric physics, meteorology and climate science, and can be used as a resource for graduate-level courses in climate modeling and numerical weather prediction. Given the critical role that atmospheric general circulation models are playing in the intense public discourse on climate change, it is also a valuable resource for policy makers and all those concerned with the scientific basis for the ongoing public-policy debate.

This book focuses on the development of physical parameterization over the last 2 to 3 decades and provides a roadmap for its future development. It covers important physical processes: convection, clouds, radiation, land-surface, and the orographic effect. The improvement of numerical models for predicting weather and climate at a variety of places and times has progressed globally. However, there are still several challenging areas, which need to be addressed with a better understanding of physical processes based on observations, and to subsequently be taken into account by means of improved parameterization. And this is all the more important since models are increasingly being used at higher horizontal and vertical resolutions. Encouraging debate on the cloud-resolving approach or the hybrid approach with parameterized convection and grid-scale cloud microphysics and its impact on models’ intrinsic predictability, the book offers a motivating reference guide for all researchers whose work involves physical parameterization problems and numerical models.

Global Physical Climatology is an introductory text devoted to the fundamental physical principles and problems of climate sensitivity and change. Addressing some of the most critical issues in climatology, this text features incisive coverage of topics that are central to understanding orbital parameter theory for past climate changes, and for anthropogenic and natural causes of near-future changes--Key Features* Covers the physics of climate change* Examines the nature of the current climate and its previous changes* Explores the sensitivity of climate and the mechanisms by which humans are likely to produce near-future climate changes* Provides instructive end-of-chapter exercises and appendices

This book is unique in its ambitious and comprehensive coverage of earth system land surface characterization, from observation and modeling to data assimilation, including recent developments in theory and techniques, and novel application cases. The contributing authors are active research scientists, and many of them are internationally known leading experts in their areas, ensuring that the text is authoritative.This book comprises four parts that are logically connected from data, modeling, data assimilation integrating data and models to applications. Land data assimilation is the key focus of the book, which encompasses both theoretical and applied aspects with various novel methodologies and applications to the water cycle, carbon cycle, crop monitoring, and yield estimation.Readers can benefit from a state-of-the-art presentation of the latest tools and their usage for understanding earth system processes. Discussions in the book present and stimulate new challenges and questions facing today''s earth science and modeling communities.

This book introduces an interdisciplinary framework to understand the interaction between terrestrial ecosystems and climate change. It reviews basic meteorological, hydrological and ecological concepts to examine the physical, chemical and biological processes by which terrestrial ecosystems affect and are affected by climate. The textbook is written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying ecology, environmental science, atmospheric science and geography. The central argument is that terrestrial ecosystems become important determinants of climate through their cycling of energy, water, chemical elements and trace gases. This coupling between climate and vegetation is explored at spatial scales from plant cells to global vegetation geography and at timescales of near instantaneous to millennia. The text also considers how human alterations to land become important for climate change. This restructured edition, with updated science and references, chapter summaries and review questions, and over 400 illustrations, including many in colour, serves as an essential student guide.

In the 20th century, water management focused on the local scale of interest. In the 21st century we will be facing changes in the quantity of our water cycle. The forces behind these new challenges are industrialisation, population growth and an insufficiently swift response to climatic change. The magnitude and distribution of global changes are not exactly predictable, because we live in an ever-changing environment and are faced with extreme and interacting processes, which all are not yet sufficiently understood. Therefore, to shoulder this task, hydrology should embrace more integrative and interdisciplinary approaches and achieve more flexibility in assessments and decisions. To better confront this challenge, catchment-related solutions are more important than local solutions, to satisfy the water demand of agriculture, ecosystems, industry and the private sector. It is wise to keep in mind that the environment has a "sustainable memory" and our knowledge about attenuation capacities and resilience of the environment is still low.