Lightning: Principles, Instruments and Applications


Book Description

Lightning represents a natural phenomenon of substantial interest. Due to its complex nature, research continues in many countries and reveals amazing results. Lightning is actively observed because of its relevance to Earth climate and air composition in addition to the classical aspects of related human fatalities and damage to forests, buildings, power lines, aircraft, structures and electronic devices. In this volume, the most important contemporary questions on lightning are addressed and analyzed under many experimental and theoretical aspects. Lightning detection techniques using ground-based and space-borne methods are described, along with network engineering and statistical analysis. Contributions detail research on atmospheric electricity, cloud physics, lightning physics, modeling of electrical storms and middle atmospheric events. Special phenomena such as triggered lightning and sprite observations are examined. Lightning-induced nitrogen oxides and their effects on atmospheric chemistry and climate are discussed. Each topic is presented by international experts in the field. Topics include: * air chemistry * convective storms * infrasound from lightning * lightning and climate change * lightning and precipitation * lightning and radiation * lightning and supercells * lightning and thunderstorms * lightning detection * lightning from space * lighting protection * lightning return strokes * observations and interpretations * spatial distribution and frequency * triggered lightning * weather extremes




Storm Kings


Book Description

With 16 pages of black-and-white illustrations In Storm Kings, Lee Sandlin retraces America's fascination and unique relationship to tornadoes and the weather. From Ben Franklin's early experiments, to "the great storm debates" of the nineteenth century, to heartland life in the early twentieth century, Sandlin shows how tornado chasing helped foster the birth of meteorology, recreating with vivid descriptions some of the most devastating storms in America's history. Drawing on memoirs, letters, eyewitness testimonies, and numerous archives, Sandlin brings to life the forgotten characters and scientists that changed a nation and how successive generations came to understand and finally coexist with the spiraling menace that could erase lives and whole towns in an instant.







"Sprites, Elves and Intense Lightning Discharges"


Book Description

Particularly intense lightning discharges can produce transient luminous events above thunderclouds, termed sprites, elves and jets. These short lived optical emissions in the mesosphere can reach from the tops of thunderclouds up to the ionosphere; they provide direct evidence of coupling from the lower atmosphere to the upper atmosphere. Sprites are arguably the most dramatic recent discovery in solar-terrestrial physics. Shortly after the first ground based video recordings of sprites, observations on board the Space Shuttle detected sprites and elves occurring all around the world. These reports led to detailed sprite observations in North America, South America, Australia, Japan, and Europe. Subsequently, sprites were detected from other space platforms such as the International Space Station and the ROCSAT satellite. During the past 15 years, more than 200 contributions on sprites have been published in the scientific literature to document this rapidly evolving new research area.




Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting


Book Description

This book is a collection of selected lectures presented at the ‘Intensive Course on Mesoscale Meteorology and Forecasting’ in Boulder, USA, in 1984. It includes mesoscale classifications, observing techniques and systems, internally generated circulations, mesoscale convective systems, externally forced circulations, modeling and short-range forecasting techniques. This is a highly illustrated book and comprehensive work, including extensive bibliographic references. It is aimed at graduates in meteorology and for professionals working in the field.




Africa Bible Commentary


Book Description

The Africa Bible Commentary is a unique publishing event—the first one-volume Bible commentary produced in Africa by African theologians to meet the needs of African pastors, students, and lay leaders. Interpreting and applying the Bible in the light of African culture and realities, it furnishes powerful and relevant insights into the biblical text that transcend Africa in their significance. The Africa Bible Commentary gives a section-by-section interpretation that provides a contextual, readable, affordable, and immensely useful guide to the entire Bible. Readers around the world will benefit from and appreciate the commentary’s fresh insights and direct style that engage both heart and mind. Key features: · Produced by African biblical scholars, in Africa, for Africa—and for the world · Section-by-section interpretive commentary and application · More than 70 special articles dealing with topics of key importance in to ministry in Africa today, but that have global implications · 70 African contributors from both English- and French-speaking countries · Transcends the African context with insights into the biblical text and the Christian faith for readers worldwide




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Church of Birds


Book Description

As humanity steadily decimates the global bird population, scientists and scholars are discovering that birds may have played a greater role in shaping human evolution than primates. Our distant ancestors imitated birdsong to develop language and followed bird migration flyways around the world, consistently settling in prime bird habitat. Church of Birds is an eco-history of human evolution that’s supported by recent scientific discoveries, ancient myth, and sacred texts. Across dozens of cultures, migratory birds were seen as divine agents of a benevolent sun, delivering seeds to the landscape in spring and guiding souls to a heavenly paradise in the fall. These mythic roles were ultimately incorporated into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.