Atmospheric Thermodynamics 2e

Book excerpt: Atmospheric Thermodynamics provides a comprehensive treatment of a subject that can often be intimidating. The text analyses real-life problems and applications of the subject, alongside of guiding the reader through the fundamental basics and covering the first and second laws and the ideal gas law, followed by an emphasis on moist processes in Earth's atmosphere. Water in all its phases is a critical component of weather and the Earth's climate system. With user-friendly chapters that include energy conservation and water and its transformations, the authors write with a willingness to expose assumptions and approximations usually absent in other textbooks. History is woven into the text to provide a context for the time evolution of thermodynamics and its place in atmospheric science and demonstrating how physical reasoning leads to correct explanations of everyday phenomena. Many of the experiments described were done using inexpensive instruments to take advantage of the earth's atmosphere as a freely accessible thermodynamics library. This second edition provides updated treatments of atmospheric measurements and substantially expanded sections that include atmospheric applications of the first and second laws and energy exchange between humans and their atmospheric environment. With 400+ thought provoking problems and 350 references with annotated notes and further reading suggestions, this second edition provides a basic understanding of the fundamentals of this subject while still being a comprehensive reference guide for those working in the field of atmospheric and environmental sciences.