Numerical models have become essential tools in environmental science, particularly in weather forecasting and climate prediction. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the techniques used in these fields, with emphasis on the design of the most recent numerical models of the atmosphere. It presents a short history of numerical weather prediction and its evolution, before describing the various model equations and how to solve them numerically. It outlines the main elements of a meteorological forecast suite, and the theory is illustrated throughout with practical examples of operational models and parameterizations of physical processes. This book is founded on the author's many years of experience, as a scientist at Météo-France and teaching university-level courses. It is a practical and accessible textbook for graduate courses and a handy resource for researchers and professionals in atmospheric physics, meteorology and climatology, as well as the related disciplines of fluid dynamics, hydrology and oceanography.

This textbook provides a comprehensive yet accessible treatment of weather and climate prediction, for graduate students, researchers and professionals. It teaches the strengths, weaknesses and best practices for the use of atmospheric models. It is ideal for the many scientists who use such models across a wide variety of applications. The book describes the different numerical methods, data assimilation, ensemble methods, predictability, land-surface modeling, climate modeling and downscaling, computational fluid-dynamics models, experimental designs in model-based research, verification methods, operational prediction, and special applications such as air-quality modeling and flood prediction. This volume will satisfy everyone who needs to know about atmospheric modeling for use in research or operations. It is ideal both as a textbook for a course on weather and climate prediction and as a reference text for researchers and professionals from a range of backgrounds: atmospheric science, meteorology, climatology, environmental science, geography, and geophysical fluid mechanics/dynamics.

An Introduction to Numerical Weather Prediction Techniques is unique in the meteorological field as it presents for the first time theories and software of complex dynamical and physical processes required for numerical modeling. It was first prepared as a manual for the training of the World Meteorological Organization's programs at a similar level. This new book updates these exercises and also includes the latest data sets. This book covers important aspects of numerical weather prediction techniques required at an introductory level. These techniques, ranging from simple one-dimensional space derivative to complex numerical models, are first described in theory and for most cases supported by fully tested computational software. The text discusses the fundamental physical parameterizations needed in numerical weather models, such as cumulus convection, radiative transfers, and surface energy fluxes calculations. The book gives the user all the necessary elements to build a numerical model. An Introduction to Numerical Weather Prediction Techniques is rich in illustrations, especially tables showing outputs from each individual algorithm presented. Selected figures using actual meteorological data are also used. This book is primarily intended for senior-level undergraduates and first-year graduate students in meteorology. It is also excellent for individual scientists who wish to use the book for self-study. Scientists dealing with geophysical data analysis or predictive models will find this book filled with useful techniques and data-processing algorithms.