Synopses & Reviews
Synoptic meteorology, the study of large-scale weather systems and forecasting using observation, and dynamic meteorology, the study of the laws of physics involved in air movement, are treated in this major new text in two volumes. The author, a meteorologist noted for his research on tornadoes and severe storms, based his work on material he has taught for the past 14 years at the University of Oklahoma. There are no modern texts on the topic. Volume II covers the formation, motion and climatology of extratropical weather systems in the context of the quasigeostrophic theory and "IPV" thinking, the formation and structure of fronts and jets, applications of semigeostrophic theory, and the observed structure and dynamics of precipitation systems in midlatitudes.
Table of Contents
PART I: The Behavior of Synoptic-Scale, Extra-Tropical Systems 1. The Formation of Surface Pressure Systems
2. The Movement of Surface Pressure Systems
3. The Formation of Upper-Level Systems
4. The Movement of Upper-Level Troughs and Ridges
5. Instability, Cyclogenesis, and Anticyclogenesis
6. The Classical Midlatitude Cyclone
7. Analysis of Midlatitude, Synoptic-Scale Systems using the Balance Equations
8. Analysis of Midlatitude, Synoptic-Scale Systems using a Generalized Height-Tendency Equation
9. Analysis of Midlatitude, Synoptic-Scale Systems using Isentropic Potential Vorticity Thinking
PART II: Fronts and Jets
1. The Relationship between Fronts and Jets
2. Consequences of the Cross-Front Scale
3. Kinematics and Thermodynamics of Frontogenesis
4. Observational Aspects of Fronts
5. Dynamics of Surface Frontogenesis
6. Dynamics of Middle-Upper Tropospheric Frontogenesis
7. Observational Aspects of Jets and Jet Streaks
8. Dynamics of Jets and Jet Streaks
PART III: Precipitation Systems in Mid-Latitudes
1. Introduction
2. Types of Precipitation
3. The Classification of Precipitation Systems
4. Convective Systems
5. Nonconvective Systems