This report addresses the transition of research satellites, instruments, and calculations into operational service for accurately observing and predicting the Earth's environment. These transitions, which take place in large part between NASA and NOAA, are important for maintaining the health, safety, and prosperity of the nation, and for achieving the vision of an Earth Information System in which quantitative information about the complete Earth system is readily available to myriad users. Many transitions have been ad hoc, sometimes taking several years or even decades to occur, and others have encountered roadblocksâ€"lack of long-range planning, resources, institutional or cultural differences, for instanceâ€"and never reached fruition. Satellite Observations of Earth's Environment recommends new structures and methods that will allow seamless transitions from research to practice.

Incredibly comprehensive yet portable enough for your day pack, the definitive field guide to every type of weather system, cloud formation, and atmospheric phenomenon common to North America--from the go-to reference source for over 18 million nature lovers. The 378 dramatic photographs in National Audubon Society Field Guide to Weather capture cloud types, precipitation, storms, twisters, and optical phenomena such as the Northern Lights. Essays with accompanying maps and illustrations discuss the earth's atmosphere, weather systems, cloud formation, and development of tornadoes and many other weather events.

Weather and Society: Toward Integrated Approaches provides the first interdisciplinary approach to the subject of weather and society. This guide to the evolving set of problem-solving approaches to weather’s societal issues successfully integrates social science’s techniques, concepts and methodologies into meteorological research and practice. Drawing especially on the work of the WAS*IS workshops (Weather and Society * Integrated Studies), this important reference offers a framework for starting to understand how the consideration of societal impacts can enhance the scientific disciplines that address the scope and impacts of weather, particularly meteorology. Filled with tools, concepts, case studies and helpful exercises, this resource: Lays the groundwork for conducting interdisciplinary work by learning new strategies and addressing typical challenges Identifies leaders of the movement to integrate social science and meteorology and highlights their contributions Includes discussion of such tools as Geographic Information Systems, survey design, focus groups, participatory research and interviewing techniques and concepts Reveals effective integrated research and applications though real-world examples in a global context Helps to identify ways to pursue research, application, and educational opportunities for integrated weather-society work Weather and Society is a hands-on guide for academics, students and professionals that offers a new approach to the successful integration of social science concepts and methodologies into the fabric of meteorological research and practice.

Do you feel happier on a sunny day? Are you afraid of thunderstorms? Are you dreaming of a White Christmas? The Psychology of Weather explores our relationship with the weather, and how it can affect our mood, behaviour, and lifestyle. The book sheds light on our preoccupation with this natural phenomenon, providing insights into how the weather on the day we were born can directly affect our intelligence and personality, and explore such surprising findings that suicide rates peak in the spring and summer. When the weather affects everything from our buying behaviour, to the jobs we do, The Psychology of Weather shows us that understanding and appreciating the weather can improve our well-being and contribute to human survival.

As climate has warmed over recent years, a new pattern of more frequent and more intense weather events has unfolded across the globe. Climate models simulate such changes in extreme events, and some of the reasons for the changes are well understood. Warming increases the likelihood of extremely hot days and nights, favors increased atmospheric moisture that may result in more frequent heavy rainfall and snowfall, and leads to evaporation that can exacerbate droughts. Even with evidence of these broad trends, scientists cautioned in the past that individual weather events couldn't be attributed to climate change. Now, with advances in understanding the climate science behind extreme events and the science of extreme event attribution, such blanket statements may not be accurate. The relatively young science of extreme event attribution seeks to tease out the influence of human-cause climate change from other factors, such as natural sources of variability like El Niño, as contributors to individual extreme events. Event attribution can answer questions about how much climate change influenced the probability or intensity of a specific type of weather event. As event attribution capabilities improve, they could help inform choices about assessing and managing risk, and in guiding climate adaptation strategies. This report examines the current state of science of extreme weather attribution, and identifies ways to move the science forward to improve attribution capabilities.

This book offers a complete primer, covering the end-to-end process of forecast production, and bringing together a description of all the relevant aspects together in a single volume; with plenty of explanation of some of the more complex issues and examples of current, state-of-the-art practices. Operational Weather Forecasting covers the whole process of forecast production, from understanding the nature of the forecasting problem, gathering the observational data with which to initialise and verify forecasts, designing and building a model (or models) to advance those initial conditions forwards in time and then interpreting the model output and putting it into a form which is relevant to customers of weather forecasts. Included is the generation of forecasts on the monthly-to-seasonal timescales, often excluded in text-books despite this type of forecasting having been undertaken for several years. This is a rapidly developing field, with a lot of variations in practices between different forecasting centres. Thus the authors have tried to be as generic as possible when describing aspects of numerical model design and formulation. Despite the reliance on NWP, the human forecaster still has a big part to play in producing weather forecasts and this is described, along with the issue of forecast verification – how forecast centres measure their own performance and improve upon it. Advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students will use this book to understand how the theory comes together in the day-to-day applications of weather forecast production. In addition, professional weather forecasting practitioners, professional users of weather forecasts and trainers will all find this new member of the RMetS Advancing Weather and Climate series a valuable tool. Provides an end-to-end description of the weather forecasting process Clearly structured and pitched at an accessible level, the book discusses the practical choices that operational forecasting centres have to make in terms of what numerical models they use and when they are run. Takes a very practical approach, using real life case-studies to contextualize information Discusses the latest advances in the area, including ensemble methods, monthly to seasonal range prediction and use of ‘nowcasting’ tools such as radar and satellite imagery Full colour throughout Written by a highly respected team of authors with experience in both academia and practice. Part of the RMetS book series ‘Advancing Weather and Climate’