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Elsevier

Physics of the Atmosphere

  • 1st Edition - October 1, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Author: Francisco J. Tapiador
  • Language: English

Physics of the Atmosphere offers a comprehensive overview of the processes of the Earth-atmosphere system. The text is organized into five parts beginning with a review of the ma… Read more

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Description

Physics of the Atmosphere offers a comprehensive overview of the processes of the Earth-atmosphere system. The text is organized into five parts beginning with a review of the mathematics that supports atmospheric physics. The second part lays the foundation by studying the Earth system, the atmosphere, solar and terrestrial radiation, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics. The third part examines water vapor, clouds, and precipitation. Various systems are detailed, such as tropical weather systems, extratropical cyclones, polar weather systems, mesoscale convective systems, and microscale phenomena. The book closes with a look at measurement and modeling including weather forecasting.

Case studies are presented throughout to offer readers real-world examples of these concepts and their applications. This comprehensive survey of atmospheric physics will serve as an invaluable resource for those studying and practicing in meteorology, climatology and other related fields.

Key features

  • Examines key concepts, laws, and equations used in atmospheric science at the professional level
  • Offers an interdisciplinary approach, making the concepts and applications useful across not only meteorology and climatology, but also geography, natural science, computing, and data science
  • Illustrates concepts with detailed, real-world case studies

Readership

Graduate students, post-grads, faculty, and researchers in atmospheric physics, meteorology, and climatology

Table of contents

PART I: A PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS BUNDLE

1. MATHEMATICS: THE LANGUAGE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS

2. MASS: NEWTON’S LAWS

3. ELECTRIC CHARGE: ELECTROMAGNETISM

4. COLOR CHARGE: QUANTUM PHYSICS

PART II: ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS

5. THE EARTH SYSTEM

6. THE ATMOSPHERE

7. SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL RADIATION

8. ELECTROMAGNETISM IN THE ATMOSPHERE

9. THERMODINAMICS OF GASES

10. GLOBAL DYNAMICS

PART III: WATER VAPOR, CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION

11. THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER

12. WATER VAPOR

13. CLOUD PHYSICS

PART IV: THE PHYSICS OF THE ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS

14. TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS

15. EXTRATROPICAL CYCLONES

16. POLAR WEATHER SYSTEMS

17. MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEMS

18. MICROSCALE PHENOMENA

PART V: MEASUREMENTS AND MODELLING

19. MEASURING THE ATMOSPHERE

20. WEATHER FORECASTING

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: October 1, 2026
  • Language: English

About the author

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Francisco J. Tapiador

Francisco J. Tapiador is Full Professor of Physics. PhD in Atmospheric Physics, he has been a visiting scholar at the universities of Cambridge, Mannheim, Paris, Oklahoma, Colorado and at JPL (NASA/Caltech). He was a research fellow at the University of Birmingham. He has been a member of the international science team of the NASA GPM mission since 2009 and of the Pieonchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games science team. Vice-President of the Specialized Group of Physics of the Atmosphere and Ocean of the Royal Spanish Society of Physics (RSEF), he has been dean for nine years of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Biochemistry of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), where he teaches Physics, Atmospheric Physics and Climate Change. He has also been a member of the commission that designed the Physics Degree of the UCLM. His research focuses on precipitation and clouds using observations, satellites and models.

Affiliations and expertise
ICAM, UCLM, Avda. Carlos III s/n University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain