Skip to main content

Books in Earth and planetary sciences

Elsevier's Earth and Planetary Sciences collection brings together pioneering research on the complexities of our planet and beyond. Covering topics from Earth's structural dynamics and ecosystems to planetary exploration, these titles support advancements in geoscience, environmental science, and space studies, offering essential insights for researchers, professionals, and students.

    • Semi-Lagrangian Advection Methods and Their Applications in Geoscience

      • 1st Edition
      • November 18, 2019
      • Steven J. Fletcher
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 7 2 2 2 3
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 7 2 2 3 0
      Semi-Lagrangian Advection Methods and Their Applications in Geoscience provides a much-needed resource on semi-Lagrangian theory, methods, and applications. Covering a variety of applications, the book brings together developments of the semi-Lagrangian in one place and offers a comparison of semi-Lagrangian methods with Eulerian-based approaches. It also includes a chapter dedicated to difficulties of dealing with the adjoint of semi-Lagrangian methods and illustrates the behavior of different schemes for different applications. This allows for a better understanding of which schemes are most efficient, stable, consistent, and likely to introduce the minimum model error into a given problem. Beneficial for students learning about numerical approximations to advection, researchers applying these techniques to geoscientific modeling, and practitioners looking for the best approach for modeling, Semi-Lagrangian Advection Methods and Their Applications in Geoscience fills a crucial gap in numerical modeling and data assimilation in geoscience.
    • Small-Format Aerial Photography and UAS Imagery

      • 2nd Edition
      • September 17, 2019
      • James S. Aber + 3 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 2 9 4 2 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 2 9 4 3 2
      Small Format Aerial Photography and UAS Imagery: Principles, Techniques and Geoscience Applications, Second Edition, provides basic and advanced principles and techniques for Small Format Aerial Photography (SFAP), focusing on manned and unmanned aerial systems, including drones, kites, blimps, powered paragliders, and fixed wing and copter SFAP. The authors focus on everything from digital image processing and interpretation of data, to travel and setup for the best result, making this a comprehensive guide for any user. Nine case studies in a variety of environments, including gullies, high altitudes, wetlands and recreational architecture are included to enhance learning. This new edition includes small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and discusses changes in legal practices across the globe. In addition, the book presents the history of SFAP, providing background and context for new developments.
    • The Dynamical Ionosphere

      • 1st Edition
      • November 27, 2019
      • Massimo Materassi + 3 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 7 8 2 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 7 8 3 2
      The Dynamical Ionosphere: A Systems Approach to Ionospheric Irregularity examines the Earth’s ionosphere as a dynamical system with signatures of complexity. The system is robust in its overall configuration, with smooth space-time patterns of daily, seasonal and Solar Cycle variability, but shows a hierarchy of interactions among its sub-systems, yielding apparent unpredictability, space-time irregularity, and turbulence. This interplay leads to the need for constructing realistic models of the average ionosphere, incorporating the increasing knowledge and predictability of high variability components, and for addressing the difficulty of dealing with the worst cases of ionospheric disturbances, all of which are addressed in this interdisciplinary book. Borrowing tools and techniques from classical and stochastic dynamics, information theory, signal processing, fluid dynamics and turbulence science, The Dynamical Ionosphere presents the state-of-the-art in dealing with irregularity, forecasting ionospheric threats, and theoretical interpretation of various ionospheric configurations.
    • Climate Extremes and Their Implications for Impact and Risk Assessment

      • 1st Edition
      • November 19, 2019
      • Jana Sillmann + 2 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 8 9 5 2
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 8 9 6 9
      Climate extremes often imply significant impacts on human and natural systems, and these extreme events are anticipated to be among the potentially most harmful consequences of a changing climate. However, while extreme event impacts are increasingly recognized, methodologies to address such impacts and the degree of our understanding and prediction capabilities vary widely among different sectors and disciplines. Moreover, traditional climate extreme indices and large-scale multi-model intercomparisons that are used for future projections of extreme events and associated impacts often fall short in capturing the full complexity of impact systems. Climate Extremes and Their Implications for Impact and Risk Assessment describes challenges, opportunities and methodologies for the analysis of the impacts of climate extremes across various sectors to support their impact and risk assessment. It thereby also facilitates cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary discussions and exchange among climate and impact scientists. The sectors covered include agriculture, terrestrial ecosystems, human health, transport, conflict, and more broadly covering the human-environment nexus. The book concludes with an outlook on the need for more transdisciplinary work and international collaboration between scientists and practitioners to address emergent risks and extreme events towards risk reduction and strengthened societal resilience.
    • Extreme Hydroclimatic Events and Multivariate Hazards in a Changing Environment

      • 1st Edition
      • June 6, 2019
      • Viviana Maggioni + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 8 9 9 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 9 0 0 3
      Extreme Hydroclimatic Events and Multivariate Hazards in a Changing Environment: A Remote Sensing Approach reviews multivariate hazards in a non-stationary environment, covering both short and long-term predictions from earth observations, along with long-term climate dynamics and models. The book provides a detailed overview of remotely sensed observations, current and future satellite missions useful for hydrologic studies and water resources engineering, and a review of hydroclimatic hazards. Given these tools, readers can improve their abilities to monitor, model and predict these extremes with remote sensing. In addition, the book covers multivariate hazards, like landslides, in case studies that analyze the combination of natural hazards and their impact on the natural and built environment. Finally, it ties hydroclimatic hazards into the Sendai Framework, providing another set of tools for reducing disaster impacts.
    • Problems and Solutions in Structural Geology and Tectonics

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 5
      • February 26, 2019
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 0 4 8 2
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 0 4 9 9
      Problems and Solutions in Structural Geology and Tectonics, Volume 5, in the series Developments in Structural Geology and Tectonics, presents students, researchers and practitioners with an all-new set of problems and solutions that structural geologists and tectonics researchers commonly face. Topics covered include ductile deformation (such as strain analyses), brittle deformation (such as rock fracturing), brittle-ductile deformation, collisional and shortening tectonics, thrust-related exercises, rift and extensional tectonics, strike slip tectonics, and cross-section balancing exercises. The book provides a how-to guide for students of structural geology and geologists working in the oil, gas and mining industries.
    • Advanced Remote Sensing

      • 2nd Edition
      • November 22, 2019
      • Shunlin Liang + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 8 2 6 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 6 5 2 8 7
      Advanced Remote Sensing: Terrestrial Information Extraction and Applications, Second Edition, is a thoroughly updated application-based reference that provides a single source on the mathematical concepts necessary for remote sensing data gathering and assimilation. It presents state-of-the-art techniques for estimating land surface variables from a variety of data types, including optical sensors like RADAR and LIDAR. The book provides scientists in a number of different fields, including geography, geophysics, geology, atmospheric science, environmental science, planetary science and ecology with access to critically-important data extraction techniques and their virtually unlimited applications. While rigorous enough for the most experienced of scientists, the techniques presented are well designed and integrated, making the book’s content intuitive and practical in its implementation.
    • Taking the Temperature of the Earth

      • 1st Edition
      • June 15, 2019
      • Glynn Hulley + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 4 5 8 9
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 4 5 9 6
      Taking the Temperature of the Earth: Steps towards Integrated Understanding of Variability and Change presents an integrated, collaborative approach to observing and understanding various surface temperatures from a whole-Earth perspective. The book describes the progress in improving the quality of surface temperatures across different domains of the Earth’s surface (air, land, sea, lakes and ice), assessing variability and long-term trends, and providing applications of surface temperature data to detect and better understand Earth system behavior. As cooperation is essential between scientific communities, whose focus on particular domains of Earth’s surface and on different components of the observing system help to accelerate scientific understanding and multiply the benefits for society, this book bridges the gap between domains.
    • The Fossil Fuel Revolution

      • 1st Edition
      • August 6, 2019
      • Daniel J. Soeder + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 3 9 7 0
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 3 9 8 7
      The Fossil Fuel Revolution: Shale Gas and Tight Oil describes the remarkable new energy resources being obtained from shale gas and tight oil through a combination of directional drilling and staged hydraulic fracturing, opening up substantial new energy reserves for the 21st Century. The book includes the history of shale gas development, the technology used to economically recover hydrocarbons, and descriptions of the ten primary shale gas resources of the United States. International shale resources, environmental concerns, and policy issues are also addressed. This book is intended as a reference on shale gas and tight oil for industry members, undergraduate and graduate students, engineers and geoscientists.
    • Understanding Faults

      • 1st Edition
      • October 8, 2019
      • David Tanner + 1 more
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 9 8 5 9
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 5 9 8 6 6
      Understanding Faults: Detecting, Dating, and Modeling offers a single resource for analyzing faults for a variety of applications, from hazard detection and earthquake processes, to geophysical exploration. The book presents the latest research, including fault dating using new mineral growth, fault reactivation, and fault modeling, and also helps bridge the gap between geologists and geophysicists working across fault-related disciplines. Using diagrams, formulae, and worldwide case studies to illustrate concepts, the book provides geoscientists and industry experts in oil and gas with a valuable reference for detecting, modeling, analyzing and dating faults.