........ published in NEWSLETTER # 69
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........ published in NEWSLETTER # 69
BUOYANT CONVECTION IN GEOPHYSICAL FLOWS
by Dr. E.E. Fedorovich, University of Karlsruhe, Germany
This volume (NATO ASI SERIES C513) contains focused versions of the invited lectures presented at the NATO ASI "Buoyant Convection in Geophysical Flows". The ASI took place from 17 to 27 March 1997 in Pforzheim, Germany.
Buoyant convection is of interest in many fields of geophysical fluid mechanics, in particular in atmospheric and oceanic dynamics, where buoyancy-driven processes play important roles on a variety of scales of motion. Although the importance of these processes has been recognised for many decades, only recently have the tools become available for effective theoretical and experimental analysis of convective flows.
Today, buoyant convection in geophysical flows is an advanced and still-developing area of research relevant to problems of the natural environment. During the last decade, significant progress has been achieved through experimental studies, both in nature and in the laboratory, and through large-eddy and direct numerical simulations. Coherent structures have been found to play a key role in geophysical boundary layers and in larger-scale atmospheric and hydrospheric circulations driven by buoyant forcing. Extensive experimental data has been collected on the role of convection in cloud dynamics and microphysics. Novel theoretical concepts and approaches have been outlined regarding scaling and parameterizations of physical processes in buoyancy- driven geophysical flows. All these advances are reflected in the book.
Papers collected in the volume consider buoyancy effects in different media: atmosphere, hydrosphere, and the Earth's mantle; on a wide range of scales: from small-scale phenomena in unstably stratified and convectively mixed layers to deep convection in the atmosphere and the ocean; by different methods of research: field measurements, laboratory simulations, theoretical analysis, and numerical modelling, and within diverse application areas: dispersion of pollutants, parameterization of convection in applied geophysical models, and hazardous phenomena associated with convection, for instance forest fires. A considerable portion of the volume is devoted to fundamentals of convection as a physical phenomenon.
Authors of the book represent both scientific and engineering communities. Their treatment of a variety of the buoyancy-driven natural processes within a common methodological framework fosters links between the theoretical and applied branches of geophysical convection research.
Reference books: C114, C201, C419, C505, C513, C516