REVIEWS 2353

The physics and parameterization of moist atmospheric convection. Edited by Roger K. Smith. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. NATO AS1 Series C, Vol. 505. 1997. ix + 498 pp. Price €148.00 (hardback). ISBN 0 792 34868 0.

The authors of the chapters which comprise this book have produced an interesting and lively account of a wide range of current work on atmospheric convection. The chapters are written versions of lectures given at a NATO Advanced Study Institute, held at Kloster Seeon, Bavaria, in August 1996. According to my spies, this was also an interesting and lively event. The topics range from the behaviour of laboratory thermals and jets to the impact of convective parametrization changes on simulations of the global climate, and cover such key issues as: entrainment, detrainment and mixing; momentum transport; mesoscale organization; and interaction with the large-scale flow. The two main classes of convective parametrizations, mass flux and adjustment schemes, are surveyed. Several chapters have a strong observational content, which helps to put the modelling work in a proper context. The quality of the production is rather variable, presumably because camera-ready copy was used. In particular, several chapters would have benefited from more careful proof-reading. Nevertheless, the book should be required reading for PhD students working in the field. They (and others) will be particularly grateful for the clarity of the chapter on ‘Thermodynamics of moist and cloudy air’ (by R. K. Smith), a subject which is obscured by unnecessary complexity in some recent textbooks. They will also (I hope) enjoy the chapter on ‘Equilibrium versus activation control of large scale variations of tropical deep convection’ (by B. E. Mapes). The discussion, there and elsewhere, on what controls tropical convection was (for me) the most interesting part of the book.

ROY KERSHAW

From turbulence to climate: Numerical investigations of the atmosphere with a hierarchy of models. By Martin Beniston. 1998. Springer, Heidelberg. 328 pp. Price €49.00 (hardback). ISBN 3 540 63495 9.

This book describes some of the many uses of numerical modelling of atmospheric flows, drawing on the published work of the author. One of the particular themes of the book is the use of nested models. Examples are given of their use in determining flows around small-scale orography for dispersion calculations, or the possible effects of global climate change at the regional scale.

After a brief review of the equations governing atmospheric flows, and some numerical issues, chapter 3 describes the technique of large-eddy simulation, used to simulate the smallest scales of atmospheric motion that are normally of interest, i.e. turbulence. The use of large-eddy simulations to study turbulence has increased rapidly in recent years, but the work on cumulus-capped boundary layers given as an example was published in the early 1980s. Interestingly, studies of cumulus-capped boundary layers using large-eddy simulations have recently revived. In the next chapter mesoscale models are considered, with most of the references now concentrated in the mid 1980s. There is a brief introduction to the parametrizations in the particular model described, but the main focus of the chapter is on results. In this case the results concern the organization of convection, based on data from the KONTUR exper- iment, and the effects of surface inhomogeneities on convection. The lesson here is that small-scale processes or inhomogeneities can lead to effects on larger scales, which has some relevance to the use of nested models. In chap- ter 5 modelling of the largest scales is considered, with the emphasis on the climate system; the references in this chapter are much more recent. The motivation for this chapter is the work of the IPCC and climate change. There is a brief introduction to general circulation models and a description of results obtained with the Max-Planck ECHAM model.

The last half of the book looks at the use of nested models. Nesting in mesoscale models can be used to determine the effects of small-scale orography on the transport of pollutants. Examples are given of studies of the transport of pollution in areas of complex topography under different large-scale conditions. Some verification against observations is given to show the usefulness of this technique. Before the book moves on to the possible effects of climate change in the Alpine region there is a rather long, but interesting, chapter on the Alpine climate, and the problems of using climate data to detect climate change. Chapter 8 then describes the results of using nested models to assess the possible impacts of global climate change on the Alpine region, the information in the previous chapter being used to assess the accuracy of the models.

Overall this is an interesting book. It is not a textbook or introductory text, or a critical review of numerical modelling. Rather the book gives an idea of the range of applications for atmospheric models, and an indication of their strengths and weaknesses. As the references show, what is given reflects the state of the art during the period when the author was active in a particular area, and not necessarily the situation today.

ALAN GRANT