Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere (with CengageNOW Printed Access Card) (Available Titles CengageNOW)

An entirely new way for students to observe, analyze, and understand meteorology, - Steven A. Ackerman and John A. Knox's METEOROLOGY: UNDERSTANDING THE ATMOSPHERE is scientific, topical, and scholarly. The authors use vivid photographs and compelling real-life stories to present the subject of weather as it directly affects your students. METEOROLOGY generates genuine enthusiasm for the subject by using conceptual models and engaging narrative to truly make weather phenomena come alive. METEOROLOGY emphasizes how we observe the atmosphere and then uses those observations to explain atmospheric phenomena. New "Observational Questions" further extend this emphasis by asking students to analyze photographs, data, or their own experiences. By learning how to interpret scientific observations of the atmosphere, students can deepen their understanding of the subject. The second edition offers complete integration with MeteorologyNow, the first assessment-driven and student-centered online learning solution created specifically for this course. MeteorologyNow uses a series of chapter-specific diagnostic tests to build a personalized learning plan for each student, allowing students to focus their study time on specific areas of weaknesses. Each personalized learning plan directs students to specific text sections as well as to a set of over three dozen Java applets designed to augment their understanding. These acclaimed applets, designed by Tom Whittaker and co-author Steven Ackerman, are divided into two types, "Observational Learning" applets deal with interpreting satellite imagery and "Atmospheric Explorations" extend the book's treatment of key topics, such as weather map analysis and numerical weather models.

Steven Ackerman is Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is Director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University. Ackerman's research interests center on understanding how changes in the radiation balance affect and are affected by changes in other climate variables such as clouds, aerosols, water vapor, and surface properties. These feedback mechanisms are studied using a compliment of theoretical models and observations. He has been actively involved in a number of meteorological projects and programs, including the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment, the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program, and the NOAA Global Climate Change Program. Renowned for his ability to inspire active student participation in his classes, Ackerman has won numerous teaching and academic awards, including the 1999 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching (University of Wisconsin) and the 2000 Teaching and Learning with Technology Grant (University of Wisconsin). Ackerman is also a member of the University of Wisconsin Teaching Academy.

John Knox is currently Assistant Research Scientist and Lecturer in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia. In addition to his teaching experience at the University of Georgia, Knox has also taught meteorology at Valparaiso University and Barnard College of Columbia University. A National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in meteorology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Rhodes Scholar finalist, he received a B.S. summa cum laude in mathematics in 1988 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Ph.D. in atmospheric science in 1996 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a post-doctoral fellow in climate systems at Columbia University in conjunction with the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA/GISS) in New York City. Knox has been very active in geoscience education, with articles published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the Journal of Geoscience Education, Mathematical Geology, The Physics Teacher, and the Journal of College Science Teaching, for which he has also served on JCST's Board of Advisors. His research in atmospheric dynamics includes journal articles on Rossby waves, non-linear balance, clear-air turbulence, and cyclone-induced windstorms, and is currently supported by NASA.