An Introduction to Atmospheric Physics

A quantitative introduction to the Earth's atmosphere for intermediate-advanced undergraduate and graduate students, with an emphasis on underlying physical principles. This edition has been brought completely up-to-date, and now includes a new chapter on the physics of climate change which builds upon material introduced in earlier chapters, giving the student a broad understanding of some of the physical concepts underlying this most important and topical subject. In contrast to many other books on atmospheric science, the emphasis is on the underlying physics. Atmospheric applications are developed mainly in the problems given at the end of each chapter. The book is an essential resource for all students of atmospheric physics as part of an atmospheric science, meteorology, physics, Earth science, planetary science, or applied mathematics course.

David Andrews has been a lecturer in Physics at Oxford University and a Physics tutor at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, for 20 years. During this time he has had extensive experience of teaching a wide range of physics courses, including atmospheric physics. This experience has included giving lectures to large student audiences and also giving tutorials to small groups. Tutorials, in particular, have given him insights into the kinds of problems that physics students encounter when learning atmospheric physics, and the kinds of topics that excite them. His broad teaching experience has also helped him introduce students to connections between topics in atmospheric physics and related topics in other areas of physics. He feels that it is particularly important to expose today's physics students to the excitements and challenges presented by the atmosphere and climate. He has also published a graduate textbook, Middle Atmosphere Dynamics, with J. R. Holton and C. B. Leovy (1987, Academic Press). He is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, a Member of the Institute of Physics, and a Member of the American Meteorological Society.