Essentials of the Earth's Climate System

Reviews / Votes

'This delightful and readable textbook covers all the topics - and then some - likely to comprise an introductory or intermediate-level college course ... Discussions of the forcing, form, and function of the climate system - on scales ranging from local to global - will be essential reading for university undergraduate and graduate students alike, and a helpful review for seasoned researchers in the climate and atmospheric sciences. The easy-on-the-eye text style is complemented by the many incisive color figures, maps and graphs, most of which are based on the latest analyses from satellites and global reanalysis data. Beginning and end-of-chapter overviews and summaries highlight the most important concepts and features of climatology study, while the glossary and bibliography are both comprehensive and fully up to date ... THE essential text on climatology ... destined to become a classic.' Andrew M. Carleton, Pennsylvania State University 'This textbook is a very comprehensive and informative resource for teaching and for general reference. Its layout and organization are efficient and effective, allowing a wide range of material to be covered in a surprising level of detail. The chapters focusing on 'local and microclimates', and 'circulation modes' are exceptional, covering difficult topics in a much more effective manner than typical introductory textbooks. This book has an important place in the classroom and on any Earth scientist's bookshelf.' David A. Pepper, California State University, Long Beach 'This textbook provides a comprehensive and well-illustrated overview of the climate system by experts with a wealth of experience in climate science.' Raymond S. Bradley, University of Massachusetts 'I can recommend this text, particularly for students studying an introduction to climate science at undergraduate level. The text is accessible and any mathematical treatment is clearly explained and at an introductory level. I am particularly impressed by the scope of material, with chapters on past climates, future climate modelling and applied climatology, a welcome addition to the usual material on atmospheric systems and local/regional climates. It is also great to see case studies illustrated with examples from all over the world. This book will be a comprehensive resource for all those teaching climate science at an introductory level.' Nicholas Pepin, University of Portsmouth 'Drawing on more than fifty years of combined experience in climate study, Barry and Hall-McKim give the reader a compact, non-mathematical overview of the fundamental processes of the Earth's climate system. The book is surprisingly comprehensive given its relatively brief length: coverage ranges from global to the local, from short-term phenomena to long-term climatic change. Complex topics are explained in straightforward, non-complex language, which in turn is supported by excellent color illustrations, and numerous place-specific examples are skilfully employed to illustrate general processes and concepts. Essentials of the Earth's Climate System is an ideal introduction to the topic for an upper-level undergraduate course in climate. It is likely to become the standard textbook in its field.' Thomas Krabacher, California State University, Sacramento '... an excellent introduction to climate science enabling coverage of the main issues in one semester and an inspiration for more in-depth studies. It is simple enough to be understood by geography and environmental science undergraduates without previous knowledge of climatology but not oversimplified ... An immense advantage of this textbook is that its first part provides excellent explanations of the very basics of climate science ... The authors manage to lay the foundations for more advanced studies and engage readers through the use of diverse examples from various parts of the world ... The authors skilfully intermingle observational data with explanations of complex processes and concepts in an engaging and easy-to-follow manner ... I highly recommend this book for undergraduate courses and every university library should have a copy.' Maria Shahgedanova, University of Reading '... a well-structured, lucidly written, and very well-illustrated climatology textbook. It is comprehensive, touching upon all of the fundamental elements of climate and drawing on climatic information from the earliest times to contemporary times. Its spatial approach to describing climate allows the student to appreciate the climate in which she/he lives and, simultaneously, where it fits into the global climate. The authors have made difficult subject matter at once interesting and informative. This is a book that the student new to climatology will appreciate and the teacher of climatology will welcome as an extremely useful resource.' Marilyn Raphael, Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research '... comprehensive ... Barry and Hall-McKim have produced a great read, and I would recommend this book wholeheartedly to anyone seeking insight into climatology in the twenty-first century.' S. John Harrison, Weather '... [The book's] descriptions of complex phenomena are excellent. This is the result of arranging subjects progressively by chapter, and a clarity of narrative, together with a superb layout that includes well-chosen illustrations, summaries, and explanatory inset boxes ... Essentials of the Earth's Climate System deserves a place with meteorologists, oceanographers looking for insights into climate classification, and those working in interdisciplinary social sciences and policy fields.' J. J. P. Smith, Bulletin of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society