Applied Thermodynamics for Meteorologists

Description

This textbook on atmospheric thermodynamics is for students of meteorology or atmospheric science. It also serves as a reference text for working professionals in meteorology and weather forecasting. It is unique because it provides complete, calculus-based derivations of basic physics from first principles, and connects mathematical relationships to real-world, practical weather forecasting applications. Worked examples and practice problems are included throughout.

Sam Miller began his career in meteorology as a weather observer in the United States Air Force in 1982. In 1984 he attended the weather forecaster school at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois, and graduated with honors. He worked as a USAF weather observer in Maine and as a forecaster in northern California, upstate New York, and in Adana, Turkey. He eventually earned the rank of Technical Sergeant and left the USAF in 1989 after more than ten years on active duty. Miller then attended the University of New Hampshire and earned a BSc in Physics (1996), an MSc in Earth Sciences: Oceanography (1999), and a PhD in Earth Sciences (2003), while also working as a weather observer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a research scientist at the university, and a teacher in New Hampshire's public university system. From 2003 to 2005, Miller was a weather forecaster with the US National Weather Service in Anchorage, Alaska. Since 2005 he has served as a Professor of Meteorology at Plymouth State University, New Hampshire, where he teaches courses in basic meteorological analysis, atmospheric thermodynamics, instrumentation, weather forecasting, satellite meteorology, and radar meteorology. Miller is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Meteorological Society, the Royal Meteorological Society, and many other professional organizations. He has published research papers on the sea breeze and has worked extensively as a meteorological consultant in legal matters.

'This text provides a modern and accessible treatment of atmospheric thermodynamics ... a student-friendly text, with enough rigor to be a strong thermodynamics text, while sporting a sufficient number of real-world cases to help drive home salient points.' Patrick S. Market, University of Missouri 'A direct and entertaining approach to thermodynamics for meteorologists. The thorough derivations together with smart illustrations, handy reference tables and many practical examples for severe weather, make it an ideal book for students and weather forecasters.' Peter Bechtold, European Weather Centre 'Miller's book is conversational and down-to-earth. He pays more attention to derivations than do most other authors. As he leads the student through the material, he notes assumptions carefully, while successfully avoiding the annoying 'it can be shown' tone of too many textbooks. Miller also provides data tables of key thermodynamic values for various substances, as I found to my delight while working on a research paper; the information is not easy to locate elsewhere ... Numerous inclusions of real-life weather data, from surface weather maps to radiosonde soundings, relate the concepts to atmospheric observations.' John Knox, Physics Today