Book Review Physical and dynamical climatology. Proceedings of the Symposium on Physical and Dynamical Clima- tology, Leningrad August 1971. WMO. The WMOlIAMAP Symposium at Leningrad was the first of the climate symposia which have become such a dominating feature of the international meteorological scene of the 1970s. This volume, published three years after the event, is a collection of the papers presented at the meeting. Some are substantial articles, others merely abstracts. They are grouped under six main headings, representing the main subject areas of the symposium: Energy budget of the earth; Physics of local and microclimate; Numerical models of climate; Satellite climatology; General circulation of the atmosphere; and Climatic fluctuations and modification. The range of topics covered by the individual papers is very wide indeed: from global energy budget studies, including estimates of the effect of small changes in the solar constant, to the detailed radiation microclimate of vegetative cover. Many of the articles contain useful and informative data analyses, for instance the analysis of thermal regimes over various kinds of topography in the paper by Utaaker. Others, on the other hand, present conclusions concerning long-term climatic changes based on assumptions, relating for instance to changes in solar activity, which would not be accepted by many meteorologists as valid representations of the real behavior of the atmosphere-ocean system. This publication is essentially a set of papers related to the general theme of climatology and reflecting the spectrum of related scientific disciplines, from data extraction and analysis to the modelling of the general atmospheric circulation and the identification of those factors primarily responsible for climatic changes on various time scales. Some of the articles are of considerable significance, among them the one on the numerical modelling of the seasonal variation of climate by the group at GFDL, Princeton, the survey on the global energy balance by M. I. Budyko and H. E. Landsberg’s article (with its 298 references!) on man-made climatic changes. These contributions, together with others in this volume, justify its place in the library of any meteorological institution or individual concerned with modern climatology. R. P. PEARCE 210

Physical and dynamical climatology. Proceedings of the Symposium on Physical and Dynamical Climatology, Leningrad August 1971. WMO

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Page 1: Physical and dynamical climatology. Proceedings of the Symposium on Physical and Dynamical Climatology, Leningrad August 1971. WMO

Book Review

Physical and dynamical climatology. Proceedings of the Symposium on Physical and Dynamical Clima- tology, Leningrad August 1971. WMO. The WMOlIAMAP Symposium at Leningrad was the first of the climate symposia which have become

such a dominating feature of the international meteorological scene of the 1970s. This volume, published three years after the event, is a collection of the papers presented at the meeting. Some are substantial articles, others merely abstracts. They are grouped under six main headings, representing the main subject areas of the symposium: Energy budget of the earth; Physics of local and microclimate; Numerical models of climate; Satellite climatology; General circulation of the atmosphere; and Climatic fluctuations and modification.

The range of topics covered by the individual papers is very wide indeed: from global energy budget studies, including estimates of the effect of small changes in the solar constant, to the detailed radiation microclimate of vegetative cover. Many of the articles contain useful and informative data analyses, for instance the analysis of thermal regimes over various kinds of topography in the paper by Utaaker. Others, on the other hand, present conclusions concerning long-term climatic changes based on assumptions, relating for instance to changes in solar activity, which would not be accepted by many meteorologists as valid representations of the real behavior of the atmosphere-ocean system.

This publication is essentially a set of papers related to the general theme of climatology and reflecting the spectrum of related scientific disciplines, from data extraction and analysis to the modelling of the general atmospheric circulation and the identification of those factors primarily responsible for climatic changes on various time scales.

Some of the articles are of considerable significance, among them the one on the numerical modelling of the seasonal variation of climate by the group at GFDL, Princeton, the survey on the global energy balance by M. I. Budyko and H. E. Landsberg’s article (with its 298 references!) on man-made climatic changes. These contributions, together with others in this volume, justify its place in the library of any meteorological institution or individual concerned with modern climatology.

R. P. PEARCE

210