Weather: How It Works And Why It Matters

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Basic Books, 7 de gen. 2008 - 240 pàgines
Scientists have delved deep into the smallest particles of matter and have extended their view to the far reaches of the universe, but still seem unable to predict the temperature five days hence. In this intriguing book, two scientists examine recent progress in the fields of meteorology and climatology. Amid colorful anecdotes of the Galapagos, Siberia, and places closer to home, they describe the earth's atmosphere, its origin and structure, and the forces that have shaped and continue to affect it. They explore temperature, pressure, and other properties of air and weather, including warm and cold fronts, highs and lows, clouds, trade winds, prevailing westerlies, and sky phenomena such as rainbows, halos, coronae, and sun dogs. The authors end with a discussion of the major threats to earth's atmosphere brought on by human activity, including global warming and ozone depletion, and argue that pure science -- not politics -- should dictate our policy responses.

Des de l'interior del llibre

Continguts

Its Not the Heat Its the Heat and the Humidity
15
The Four Seasons
31
Weather Wisdom and Lore
55
Stormy Weather
71
Here Come the Glaciers
92
The Majority Rules
146
From Hoax to Menace
154
Two Worlds
166
The World in a Future Climate
183
Mass and Weight
200
Instances of Global Warming
213
Copyright

Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot

Frases i termes més freqüents

Passatges populars

Pàgina 55 - He answered and said unto them, "When it is evening ye say, 'It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.
Pàgina 92 - Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken — The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!
Pàgina 63 - When the wind is in the east, It's good for neither man nor beast. When the wind is in the north, The old folk should not venture forth, When the wind is in the south, It blows the bait in the fishes
Pàgina 50 - The moon and the weather May change together; But change of the moon Does not change the weather. If we'd no moon at all, And that may seem strange, We still should have weather That's subject to change.
Pàgina 70 - Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow! You cataracts and hurricanes, spout Till you have drench'd our steeples, drown'd the cocks! You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Smite flat the thick rotundity o
Pàgina 42 - The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day we were aware of only one Earth.
Pàgina 58 - When the dew is on the grass, Rain will never come to pass. When the grass is dry at night, Look for rain before the light. When grass is dry at morning light, Look for rain before the night.
Pàgina 196 - I'd buried Maman, and like then, my forehead especially was hurting me, all the veins in it throbbing under the skin. It was this burning, which I couldn't stand anymore, that made me move forward. I knew that it was stupid, that I wouldn't get the sun off me by stepping forward. But I took a step, one step, forward.

Sobre l'autor (2008)

Arthur Upgren is Professor of Astronomy at Wesleyan University and has been director of its Van Vleck Observatory. He is the author of Night Has a Thousand Eyes: A Naked-Eye Guide to the Sky, Its Science, and Lore.

Jurgen Stock has been on the faculty of Hamburg and Case-Western Reserve Universities. He has also been director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory at La Serena, Chile, as well as founding director of CIDA, the Venezuelan National Observatory at Mérida."

Informació bibliogràfica