This is a textbook for non-atmospheric specialists who work in the coastal zone. Its purpose will be to help coastal environmental, engineering, and planning professionals to understand coastal atmospheric processes. This in turn will allow more effective communication with climate modelers, atmospheric environmental consultants, and members of the media.

The coastal environment is among the most intensively used and chronically abused components of the Earth-ocean-atmosphere system. It is also home to an ever-increasing proportion of humanity with their increasing development, trade, transportation, and industrial activities, amid increasing impacts of natural hazards. The atmosphere is an integral part of the system, with all of the above human activities affecting and being affected by atmospheric processes and hazards. Yet few of the specialists studying the coastal environment have expertise on atmospheric processes, this therefore presents a highly relevant textbook on coastal atmospheric processes.

Dr. Robert V. Rohli is an atmospheric scientist with a B.A. in geography from the University of New Orleans, an M.S. in atmospheric sciences from The Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in geography from Louisiana State University. His research involves atmospheric circulation variability, tropical cyclone dynamics, natural hazards, and applied meteorology/climatology.

Inhalt

Part I. Introduction to Our Coastal Atmosphere

Chapter 1. The Scope and Uniqueness of Our Coastal Atmosphere

Chapter 2. Atmospheric Composition, Structure, and Evolution

Part II. Thermodynamics in Our Coastal Atmosphere

Chapter 3. Energy Transfer / Electromagnetic Radiation

Chapter 4. Temperature

Chapter 5. Application of the Gas Laws in Meteorology

Chapter 6. The Hydrostatic Equation and Adiabatic Processes

Chapter 7. Atmospheric Moisture

Chapter 8. Atmospheric Stability and Potential Temperature

Chapter 9. Measuring and Estimating Atmospheric Stability

Chapter 10. Using Thermodynamic Diagrams in Meteorology

Chapter 11. Clouds.- Chapter 12. Precipitation Processes and Types

Part III. Dynamic Processes in Our Coastal Atmosphere

Chapter 13. Pressure and Winds

Chapter 14. Coriolis Effect

Chapter 15. Effect of Friction

Chapter 16. The Gradient Wind

Chapter 17. Gravitation

Chapter 18. The Seven Basic Equations in Weather Forecasting Models

Chapter 19. Comparison of Weather Forecasting Models and GCMs

Chapter 20. General Circulation of the Atmosphere

Part IV. Weather Systems in Our Coastal Zone

Chapter 21. Air Masses

Chapter 22. Atmospheric Lifting Mechanisms

Chapter 23. Fronts and the Mid-latitude Wave Cyclone

Chapter 24. Thunderstorms

Chapter 25. Lightning

Chapter 26. Tornadoes and Waterspouts

Chapter 27. Advising the Public about the Severe Weather Risk

Chapter 28. Tropical Cyclones

Chapter 29. Coastal Flooding

Chapter 30. Coastal Drought

Chapter 31. Winter Storms

Chapter 32. Sea Ice and Weather Systems

Chapter 33. Summary of Energy Transfer by Atmospheric Motion

Part V. Atmospheric Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Interaction

Chapter 34. Introduction to the Near-surface Atmosphere

Chapter 35. The Logarithmic Wind Profile in Neutral Stability Conditions

Chapter 36. The Non-neutral or Diabatic Wind Profile

Chapter 37. Introduction to the Transition (or Ekman) Layer

Chapter 38. The Classical Solution to the Atmospheric Ekman Spiral

Chapter 39. The Modified Ekman Spiral Solution in the Atmosphere

Chapter 40. Fundamentals of Air-Sea Interactions

Chapter 41. Weather Effects on the Ocean

Chapter 42. Wind Stress and Turbulent Flux Drag Coefficients over Water Surfaces

Part VI. Air-Sea-Land Interaction

Chapter 43. Surface Fluxes of Energy, Moisture, and Momentum

Chapter 44. Sea and Land Breezes

Chapter 45. Coastal Fog

Chapter 46. Coastal Upwelling and Weather

Chapter 47. Atmospheric Impacts on Lake Processes

Chapter 48. Coastal Jets

Chapter 49. Atmospheric Optical Effects in Our Coastal Zone

Part VII. Planning and Engineering Applications

Chapter 50. Atmospheric Dispersion in Our Coastal Zone

Chapter 51. Meteorology and Climatology of Coastal Cities

Chapter 52. Engineering Aspects of the Wind Profile

Appendix A. Système International Units Commonly Used in Meteorology

Appendix B. "Retired" Atlantic-Caribbean-Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Names

Index