Invisible in the Storm: The Role of Mathematics in Understanding Weather

Description

Invisible in the Storm is the first book to recount the history, personalities, and ideas behind one of the greatest scientific successes of modern times--the use of mathematics in weather prediction. Although humans have tried to forecast weather for millennia, mathematical principles were used in meteorology only after the turn of the twentieth c

Ian Roulstone is professor of mathematics at the University of Surrey. John Norbury is a fellow in applied mathematics at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. They are the coeditors of "Large-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics".

"Mathematicians Ian Roulstone and John Norbury demystify the maths behind meteorology. Trailblazers' work is vividly evoked, from eighteenth-century mathematician Leonhard Euler on hydrostatics to physicist Vilhelm Bjerknes's numerical weather prediction. The pace cranks up with twentieth-century advances such as Jule Gregory Charney's harnessing of the gargantuan ENIAC computer for his work in the 1940s and 1950s on forecasting pressure patterns."--Nature "[O]ne of the great strengths of the book is the way it picks apart the challenge of making predictions about a chaotic system, showing what improvements we might yet hope for and what factors confound them."--Philip Ball, Prospect "A welcome and authoritative account of the 20th-century contributions of mathematically sophisticated meteorologists such as Vilhelm Berknes (1862--1951), Carl-Gustav Rossby (1898--1957), Jule Charney (1917--1981), and Ed Lorenz (1917--2008)... Clearly, this book is informative and inspirational, leaving plenty of room for innovations by future generations of mathematicians and modelers."--James Rodger Fleming, MAA Reviews "This book gives a deep insight of the mathematics involved in the forecast of weather... The authors have done a brilliant work to collect a huge amount of historical information, as well as mathematical information, but keeping always a level in the explanations that makes the text accessible to undergraduate students in the first years, and even to people not so familiar with mathematics. All in all, this is a very interesting and enjoyable reading."--Vicente Mu?oz, European Mathematical Society "Shows how much modern weather forecasting depends on mathematics... A superior read."--Alexander Bogolomny, CTK Insights "Takes readers on a journey, starting with the initial vision of Bjerknes, and then leads them through the early unsuccessful hand-calculated attempts at forecasting the weather mathematically, progressing to the use of early electronic computers which, even though successful, could not produce a timely forecast. It concludes by describing the current methods of Numerical Weather Prediction ... a book that will appeal to the intelligent 'popular science' enthusiast without disengaging the more theoretically-versed reader."--David-John Gibbs, Weather "UK mathematicians Roulstone and Norbury provide a lively account of the evolution of numerical weather prediction, focusing on the individuals involved in advancing measurement of atmospheric properties and the implementation of numerical methods to describe and predict atmospheric processes... This unique historical narrative will interest scholars of the history and philosophy of science."--Choice "Roulstone and Norbury do well within the constraints of this species of book. The story they tell is far from exhausted. I hope they write a sequel!"--John P. Boyd, Mathematical Reviews "[A] fascinating account of science's admirable but ultimately inadequate attempts to get to grips with the natural environment upon which we depend for life itself, but which is equally capable of visiting death and destruction upon us."--Jonathan Gornall, The National "[T]he authors have done well to create a book that will appeal to the intelligent 'popular science' enthusiast without disengaging the more theoretically-versed reader."--David-John Gibbs, Weather "Accessible and timely, Invisible in the Storm explains the crucial role of mathematics in understanding the ever-changing weather."--Nina Shokina, Zentralblatt MATH "[T]his is a well-written book giving a generally clear and accessible account of how weather forecasts are prepared. The historical detail enlivens the narrative and makes for an enjoyable read. The authors have considerable knowledge and expertise, and the book is scientifically sound. It can be warmly recommended to anyone who wishes to understand, in broad terms, how modern weather forecasts are made and how we may use models of the atmosphere to anticipate changes in the earth's climate."--Peter Lynch, Notices of the AMS