Fundamentals of Atmospheric Science

by William Brune

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This text prepares students by laying a solid foundation in the application of physical, chemical, and mathematical principles to a broad range of atmospheric phenomena. Students are introduced to fundamental concepts and applications of atmospheric thermodynamics, radiative transfer, atmospheric chemistry, cloud microphysics, atmospheric dynamics, and the atmospheric boundary layer.

Description from LibreTexts.

Publisher
The Pennsylvania State University
Subjects
Geosciences, Meteorology and Climate Science
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, as LibreTexts states it. Non-commercial use only.
Who can read
Tweens profiles and older, judged from its title and subjects

Contents

LibreTexts writes equations in TeX, and here they show as TeX; the PDF has them typeset.

  1. Front Matter
  2. TitlePage
  3. InfoPage
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Licensing
  6. 1: Getting Started
  7. 1.1: The atmosphere is …
  8. 1.2: You will not believe what you can do with math!
  9. 1.3: If you thought practice makes perfect, you could be right
  10. 1.4: Are you ready to get with the programming?
  11. 1.5: Summary and Final Tasks
  12. 2: Thermodynamics
  13. 2.1: Gas Laws
  14. 2.2: The Atmosphere’s Pressure Structure - Hydrostatic Equilibrium
  15. 2.3: First Law of Thermodynamics
  16. 2.4: The higher the temperature, the thicker the layer
  17. 2.5: Adiabatic Processes - The Path of Least Resistance
  18. 2.6: Stability and Buoyancy
  19. 3: Moist Processes
  20. 3.1: Ways to Specify Water Vapor
  21. 3.2: Condensation and Evaporation
  22. 3.3: Phase Diagram for Water Vapor - Clausius Clapeyron Equation
  23. 3.4: Solving Energy Problems Involving Phase Changes and Temperature Changes
  24. 3.5: The Skew-T Diagram- A Wonderful Tool!
  25. 3.6: Understanding the Atmosphere’s Temperature Profile
  26. 3.7: Summary and Final Tasks
  27. 4: Atmospheric Composition
  28. 4.1: Atmospheric Composition
  29. 4.2: Changes in Atmospheric Composition
  30. 4.3: Other Trace Gases
  31. 4.4: Stratospheric Ozone Formation
  32. 4.5: The Story of the Atmosphere's PAC-MAN
  33. 4.6: Where do Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) come from?
  34. 4.7: Summary and Final Tasks
  35. 5: Cloud Physics
  36. 5.1: Looking at the Whole Cloud
  37. 5.2: Do you recognize these clouds, drops, and snowflakes?
  38. 5.3: What are the requirements for forming a cloud drop?
  39. 5.4: How can supersaturation be achieved?
  40. 5.5: Curvature Effect - Kelvin Effect
  41. 5.6: Solute Effect - Raoult’s Law
  42. 5.7: Vapor Deposition
  43. 5.8: Did you know most precipitation comes from collision-coalescence?
  44. 5.9: An Unusual Way to Make Precipitation in Mixed-Phase Clouds
  45. 5.10: Summary and Final Tasks
  46. 6: Atmospheric Radiation
  47. 6.1: Prelude to Atmospheric Radiation
  48. 6.2: Atmospheric Radiation - Why does it matter?
  49. 6.3: Start at the Source - Earth Rotating Around the Sun
  50. 6.4: How is energy related to the wavelength of radiation?
  51. 6.5: The Solar Spectrum
  52. 6.6: What is the origin of the Planck Function?
  53. 6.7: Which wavelength has the greatest spectral irradiance?
  54. 6.8: What is the total irradiance of any object?
  55. 6.9: Kirchhoff’s Law explains why nobody is perfect
  56. 6.10: Why do objects absorb the way that they do?
  57. 7: Applications of Atmospheric Radiation Principles
  58. 7.1: Prelude to Applications of Atmospheric Radiation Principles
  59. 7.2: Applications of Atmospheric Radiation
  60. 7.3: Atmospheric Radiation and Earth’s Climate
  61. 7.4: What does the energy balance of the real atmosphere look like?
  62. 7.5: Applications to Remote Sensing
  63. 7.6: What is the math behind these physical descriptions of the GOES data products?
  64. 7.7: Summary and Final Tasks
  65. 8: Math and Conceptual Preparation for Understanding Atmospheric Motion
  66. 8.1: Prelude to Math and Conceptual Preparation for Understanding Atmospheric Motion
  67. 8.2: This is why partial derivatives are so easy...
  68. 8.3: What you don’t know about vectors may surprise you!
  69. 8.4: Describing weather requires coordinate systems.
  70. 8.5: Do you need a weathervane to see which way the wind blows?
  71. 8.6: Gradients - How to Find Them
  72. 8.7: What You Experience Depends on Your Point of View - Eulerian vs. Lagrangian
  73. 8.8: Can the Eulerian and Lagrangian frameworks be connected?
  74. 8.9: Summary and Final Tasks
  75. 9: Kinematics
  76. 9.1: Streamlines and trajectories aren’t usually the same.
  77. 9.2: Watch these air parcels move and change.
  78. 9.3: Five Air Motion Types You Must Get to Know
  79. 9.4: How does divergence relate to the air parcel’s area change?
  80. 9.5: How is the horizontal divergence/convergence related to vertical motion?
  81. 9.6: How fast is the vertical wind and which way does it blow?
  82. 9.7: Summary and Final Tasks
  83. 10: Dynamics - Forces
  84. 10.1: What does turbulent drag do to horizontal boundary layer flow?
  85. 10.2: Why are midlatitude winds mostly westerly (i.e., eastward)?
  86. 10.3: Why We Like Conservation
  87. 10.4: What are the important real forces?
  88. 10.5: Effects of Earth’s Rotation- Apparent Forces
  89. 10.6: Equations of Motion in Spherical Coordinates
  90. 10.7: Are all the terms in these equations equally important? Let's use scale analysis.
  91. 10.8: Why do weather maps use pressure surfaces instead of height surfaces?
  92. 10.9: Natural coordinates are better horizontal coordinates.
  93. 10.10: A Closer Look at the Four Force Balances
  94. 10.11: See how the gradient wind has a role in weather.
  95. 10.12: Overview
  96. 10.13: Summary and Final Tasks
  97. 11: Atmospheric Boundary Layer
  98. 11.1: How do these fluxes look?
  99. 11.2: Turbulent Eddies - A Cascade of Energy
  100. 11.3: The Surface Layer’s Energy Budget
  101. 11.4: The atmospheric boundary layer is your home.
  102. 11.5: A Day in the Life of the Boundary Layer
  103. 11.6: The Story of Diurnal Boundary Layer Growth Told in Vertical Profiles of Virtual Potential Temperature
  104. 11.7: Frozen - The Taylor Hypothesis
  105. 11.8: Here’s How Reynolds Did Averaging
  106. 11.9: How Kinematic Fluxes Move Air Vertically
  107. 11.10: Can we relate this turbulent flux to a molecular flux?
  108. 11.11: Let’s see how vertical turbulent transport can be quantified.
  109. 11.12: What other fluxes are important?
  110. 11.13: Summary and Final Tasks
  111. 12: The Atmosphere - A Holistic View
  112. 12.1: An Integrated View of the Atmosphere
  113. 12.2: The Final Project
  114. Back Matter
  115. Index
  116. Glossary
  117. Detailed Licensing
  118. Detailed Licensing