Measuring the Natural
Environment
&
Precipitation
This web site is an extension
to my books Measuring the Natural
Environment (first and second editions) and Precipitation published by Cambridge University Press.
Details can be
seen at www.cambridge.org Type in
Strangeways in
the search box and select one of the books listed.
Precipitation plays a significant role in the climate
system, every bit as important as temperature, yet Precipitation is the first book that provides a comprehensive
examination of the processes involved in the growth of clouds, rain, snow and
hail. The book also shows how precipitation is measured and what these
measurements tell us about its distribution around the globe. The account
begins by tracing our attempts to understand what precipitation is, starting
with the ideas of the ancient Greeks, followed, after a long period of
stagnation through the middle ages, by the improved insights of
seventeenth-century scientists, leading to today’s detailed knowledge. The
measurement of precipitation with raingauges, radar and satellites is explained
followed by what these measurements tell researchers about global annual means,
trends, variability and extremes of precipitation.
Ian Strangeways
Last update 23 June
2009
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