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Principles of Planetary Climate

Raymond T. Pierrehumbert, University of
Chicago
Hardback

ISBN: 9780521865562
Publication date: December 2010

680 pages
143 b/w illus. 23 tables 370 exercises
Dimensions: 246 x 189 mm
Weight: 1.6 kg

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This book introduces the reader to all the basic physical building blocks of climate
needed to understand the present and past climate of Earth, the climates of Solar
System planets, and the climates of extrasolar planets. These building blocks include
thermodynamics, infrared radiative transfer, scattering, surface heat transfer and
various processes governing the evolution of atmospheric composition. Nearly four
hundred problems are supplied to help consolidate the reader's understanding, and to
lead the reader towards original research on planetary climate. This textbook is
invaluable for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in atmospheric
science, Earth and planetary science, astrobiology, and physics. It also provides a
superb reference text for researchers in these subjects, and is very suitable for
academic researchers trained in physics or chemistry who wish to rapidly gain enough
background to participate in the excitement of the new research opportunities
opening in planetary climate.

Reviews

'The words 'original' and 'textbook' don't often go together, but I think it is
appropriate to use them both when describing this book. Ray Pierrehumbert has
written a book that travels from the fundamentals to the complexities of the
climate system as a whole, in a clear and logical fashion, covering not just the
planet Earth but the principles underlying the climates of planets more generally.

1 of 3 04/17/2011 09:32 PM
Principles of Planetary Climate - Print View - Aca... http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/print...

There is no other book quite like it.' - Dr. Geoffrey K. Vallis, Geophysical Fluid
Dynamics Lab (GFDL), Princeton University; author of Atmospheric and
Oceanic Fluid Dynamics.

'Principles of Planetary Climate is a significant contribution to planetary

atmospheres, written by one of the field's broadest thinkers.
Pierrehumbert covers a comprehensive range of topics fundamental to all
planet atmospheres. He brings together the basic and advanced building
blocks in a way that is both compelling and thorough. This book should be
read by all interested in planetary climate.' - Professor Sara Seager,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

'The words 'original' and 'textbook' don't often go together, but I think it
is appropriate to use them both when describing this book. Ray
Pierrehumbert has written a book that travels from the fundamentals to
the complexities of the climate system as a whole, in a clear and logical
fashion, covering not just the planet Earth but the principles underlying
the climates of planets more generally. There is no other book quite like
it.'

'Principles of Planetary Climate is a significant contribution to planetary

atmospheres, written by one of the field's broadest thinkers.
Pierrehumbert covers a comprehensive range of topics fundamental to all
planet atmospheres. He brings together the basic and advanced building
blocks in a way that is both compelling and thorough. This book should be
read by all interested in planetary climate.'

Features

• Begins with a very elementary treatment requiring little mathematical

sophistication, and gradually increases the demands on the student in
later chapters, so that it can be used on many different courses •
Presents a unified treatment of all the aspects of physics and chemistry
needed to make simple models of the present and past climates of Earth
and other planets • Provides software, datasets and algorithms needed
to reproduce all calculations and results in the book, to help the student
recreate all the results and independently address original questions •
Provides hundreds of creative and stimulating exercises, both for
consolidating immediate comprehension and leading students to
imaginative inquiries on the brink of original research

2 of 3 04/17/2011 09:32 PM
Principles of Planetary Climate - Print View - Aca... http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/print...

• Begins with a very elementary treatment requiring little mathematical

sophistication, and gradually increases the demands on the student in
later chapters, so that it can be used on many different courses •
Presents a unified treatment of all the aspects of physics and chemistry
needed to make simple models of the present and past climates of Earth
and other planets • Provides software, datasets and algorithms needed
to reproduce all calculations and results in the book, to help the student
recreate all the results and independently address original questions •
Provides hundreds of creative and stimulating exercises, both for
consolidating immediate comprehension and leading students to
imaginative inquiries on the brink of original research

Table of Contents

Preface
1. The big questions
2. Thermodynamics in a nutshell
3. Elementary models of radiation balance
4. Radiative transfer in temperature-stratified atmospheres
5. Scattering
6. The surface energy balance
7. Variation of temperature with season and latitude
8. Evolution of the atmosphere
9. A peek at dynamics
Appendix. Notation
Index.

© Cambridge University Press 2011.

3 of 3 04/17/2011 09:32 PM