Invisible in the Storm
The Role of Mathematics in Understanding Weather
Seiten
2013
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-15272-1 (ISBN)
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-15272-1 (ISBN)
Invisible in the Storm is the first book to recount the history, personalities, and ideas behind one of the greatest scientific successes of modern times--the use of mathematics in weather prediction. Although humans have tried to forecast weather for millennia, mathematical principles were used in meteorology only after the turn of the twentieth century. From the first proposal for using mathematics to predict weather, to the supercomputers that now process meteorological information gathered from satellites and weather stations, Ian Roulstone and John Norbury narrate the groundbreaking evolution of modern forecasting. The authors begin with Vilhelm Bjerknes, a Norwegian physicist and meteorologist who in 1904 came up with a method now known as numerical weather prediction. Although his proposed calculations could not be implemented without computers, his early attempts, along with those of Lewis Fry Richardson, marked a turning point in atmospheric science.
Roulstone and Norbury describe the discovery of chaos theory's butterfly effect, in which tiny variations in initial conditions produce large variations in the long-term behavior of a system--dashing the hopes of perfect predictability for weather patterns. They explore how weather forecasters today formulate their ideas through state-of-the-art mathematics, taking into account limitations to predictability. Millions of variables--known, unknown, and approximate--as well as billions of calculations, are involved in every forecast, producing informative and fascinating modern computer simulations of the Earth system. Accessible and timely, Invisible in the Storm explains the crucial role of mathematics in understanding the ever-changing weather.
Roulstone and Norbury describe the discovery of chaos theory's butterfly effect, in which tiny variations in initial conditions produce large variations in the long-term behavior of a system--dashing the hopes of perfect predictability for weather patterns. They explore how weather forecasters today formulate their ideas through state-of-the-art mathematics, taking into account limitations to predictability. Millions of variables--known, unknown, and approximate--as well as billions of calculations, are involved in every forecast, producing informative and fascinating modern computer simulations of the Earth system. Accessible and timely, Invisible in the Storm explains the crucial role of mathematics in understanding the ever-changing weather.
Ian Roulstone is professor of mathematics at the University of Surrey. John Norbury is a fellow in applied mathematics at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. They are the coeditors of Large-Scale Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics.
Preface vii Prelude: New Beginnings 1 ONE The Fabric of a Vision 3 TWO From Lore to Laws 47 THREE Advances and Adversity 89 FOUR When the Wind Blows the Wind 125 Interlude: A Gordian Knot 149 FIVE Constraining the Possibilities 153 SIX The Metamorphosis of Meteorology 187 Color Insert follows page 230 SEVEN Math Gets the Picture 231 EIGHT Predicting in the Presence of Chaos 271 Postlude: Beyond the Butterfly 313 Glossary 317 Bibliography 319 Index 323
| Zusatzinfo | 15 color illus. 76 halftones. 77 line illus. |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | New Jersey |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 235 mm |
| Gewicht | 709 g |
| Themenwelt | Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik ► Angewandte Mathematik |
| Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Meteorologie / Klimatologie | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-691-15272-1 / 0691152721 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-691-15272-1 / 9780691152721 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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