A comprehensive and authoritative text on the formation and evolution of planetary atmospheres, for graduate-level students and researchers.

Pt. I. Uniform heating from below. On convection currents in a horizontal layer of fluid when the higher temperature in on the under side / Lord Rayleigh -- The stability of a layer of fluid heated below / H. Jeffreys -- Some cases of instability in fluid motion / H. Jeffreys -- The instability of a compressible fluid heated below / H. Jeffreys -- On the criterion for stability of a layer of viscous fluid heated from below / A.R. Low -- On maintained convective motion in a fluid heated from below / A. Pellew and R.V. Southwell -- pt. II. Effects of rotation. Motion of solids in fluids when the flow is not irrotational / G.I. Taylor -- Experiments with rotating fluids / G.I. Taylor -- pt. III. Uniform heating from below with rotation. The instability of a layer of fluid heated below and subject to Coriolis forces / S. Chandrasekhar -- The instability of a layer of fluid heated below and subject to Coriolis forces, II / S. Chandrasekhar and D.D. Elbert -- pt. IV. Horizontally non-uniform heating with rotation (the planetary atmosphere). On the phenomena of motion in the atmosphere / A. Oberbeck -- On atmospheric motions / H. von Helmholtz -- The function of cyclones in the general circulation / H. Jeffreys -- Relation between variations in the intensity of the zonal circulation of the atmosphere and the displacements of the semi-permanent centers of action / C.-G. Rossby and collaborators -- The dynamics of long waves in a baroclinic westerly current / J.G. Charney -- Long waves and cyclone waves / E.T. Eady -- Dynamic instability of two-dimensional nondivergent flow in a barotropic atmosphere / H.-L. Kuo -- Stability properties of large-scale atmospheric disturbances / R. Fjøtoft -- Symmetrical disturbances in a thin layer of fluid subject to a horizontal temperature gradient and rotation / H.-L. Kuo -- The forced flow due to heating of a rotating liquid / T.V. Davies -- On the forced motion due to heating of a deep rotating liquid in an annulus / T.V. Davies -- Energy-releasing processes and stability of thermally driven motions in a rotating fluid / H.-L. Kuo -- Forced and free meridional circulations in the atmosphere / H.-L. Kuo -- Further studies of thermally driven motions in a rotating fluid / H.-L. Kuo -- The general circulation of the atmosphere: a numerical experiment / N.A. Phillips.

The NATO ASI held in the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 17-28, 1991 was, we believe, the first attempt to bring together geoscientists from all the disciplines related to the solar system where fluid flow is a fundamental phenomenon. The various aspects of flow discussed at the meeting ranged from the flow of ice in glaciers, through motion of the solar wind, to the effects of flow in the Earth's mantle as seen in surface phenomena. A major connecting theme is the role played by convection. For a previous attempt to review the various ways in which convection plays an important role in natural phenomena one must go back to an early comprehensive study by 1. Wasiutynski in "Astro physica Norvegica" vo1. 4, 1946. This work, little known now perhaps, was a pioneering study. In understanding the evolution of bodies of the solar system, from accretion to present-day processes, ranging from interplanetary plasma to fluid cores, the understanding of flow hydrodynamics is essentia1. From the large scale in planetary atmospheres to geological processes, such as those seen in magma chambers on the Earth, one is dealing with thermal or chemical convection. Count Rumford, the founder of the Royal Institution, studied thermal convection experimentally and realized its practical importance in domestic contexts.