Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The atmospheric dynamics of deserts
- 3 The climates of the world deserts
- 4 Atmospheric and surface energy budgets of deserts
- 5 Surface physics of the unvegetated sandy desert landscape
- 6 Vegetation effects on desert surface physics
- 7 Substrate effects on desert surface physics
- 8 Desert-surface physical properties
- 9 Numerical modeling of desert atmospheres
- 10 Desert boundary layers
- 11 Desert microclimates
- 12 Dynamic interactions among desert microclimates
- 13 Desert rainfall
- 14 Anthropogenic effects on the desert atmosphere
- 15 Changes in desert climate
- 16 Severe weather in the desert
- 17 Effects of deserts on the global environment and other regional environments
- 18 Desertification
- 19 Biometeorology of humans in desert environments
- 20 Optical properties of desert atmospheres
- Appendix A Glossary of meteorological and land-surface terms
- Appendix B Abbreviations
- Appendix C Units, numerical constants, and conversion factors
- Appendix D Symbols
- Appendix E Maps of the world
- Hints to solving some problems and exercises
- References
- Index
- Plate section
- References
9 - Numerical modeling of desert atmospheres
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The atmospheric dynamics of deserts
- 3 The climates of the world deserts
- 4 Atmospheric and surface energy budgets of deserts
- 5 Surface physics of the unvegetated sandy desert landscape
- 6 Vegetation effects on desert surface physics
- 7 Substrate effects on desert surface physics
- 8 Desert-surface physical properties
- 9 Numerical modeling of desert atmospheres
- 10 Desert boundary layers
- 11 Desert microclimates
- 12 Dynamic interactions among desert microclimates
- 13 Desert rainfall
- 14 Anthropogenic effects on the desert atmosphere
- 15 Changes in desert climate
- 16 Severe weather in the desert
- 17 Effects of deserts on the global environment and other regional environments
- 18 Desertification
- 19 Biometeorology of humans in desert environments
- 20 Optical properties of desert atmospheres
- Appendix A Glossary of meteorological and land-surface terms
- Appendix B Abbreviations
- Appendix C Units, numerical constants, and conversion factors
- Appendix D Symbols
- Appendix E Maps of the world
- Hints to solving some problems and exercises
- References
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
There is an unaccountable solace that fierce landscapes offer to the soul. They heal as well as mirror, the brokenness we find within. Moving apprehensively into the desert's emptiness, up the mountain's height, you discover in wild terrain a metaphor of your deepest fears. If the danger is sufficient, you experience a loss of competence, a crisis of knowing that brings you to the end of yourself, to the only true place where God is met … Some people die in the desert. Others flee as quickly as possible before it can effect them in any serious way. Only a few remain long enough to discover a hard-headed, unromanticized compassion, stripped of the sentimentalism that too often substitutes for love. They are the ones who manage to sustain the terrible and the good, without compromising either one.
Belden C. Lane, American educator and writer The Solace of Fierce Landscapes (1998)In reference to Chile's harsh Atacama Desert:
It had not rained for half a century there … The bare earth, plantless, waterless, is an immense puzzle. In the forests or beside rivers everything speaks to humans. The desert does not speak. I could not comprehend its tongue: its silence …
Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet Confieso que he vivido (I Confess That I Have Lived) (1974)Numerical models of the atmosphere are used in a variety of applications. They can be employed for operational weather forecasting, with forecast periods of as long as ten days.
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- Information
- Desert Meteorology , pp. 271 - 290Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004