Preface

Summary

This book is intended as a text and as a reference book for students from a range of disciplines, not just the atmospheric sciences. However, it is expected that students will have had at least an introductory, undergraduate, non-technical course in weather. The equations will have to be interpreted by an instructor for those without preparation in physical sciences and mathematics with calculus. And the short refresher tutorials on various topics at the beginning of some chapters will likely be skipped by those with more rigorous backgrounds in atmospheric sciences. At the end of each chapter are lists of suggested general references for further reading, questions for review, and problems and exercises. The references represent a spectrum of difficulty levels; some are qualitative whereas others may be quite technically oriented. Students without a technical background will need to choose from the qualitative references, of which there are many. The review questions are provided as study aids. The technical discipline of each student, which has served as the motivation for studying this subject, will ultimately determine what material is most germane. Thus, the student and the instructor should add their own study questions to those provided. The problems and exercises are sometimes sufficiently challenging that background reading in other texts in atmospheric sciences may be required. A number of the problems require some mathematics, and these are most appropriate for students with such a background.