The Cloud Book


Book Description

Become an expert on clouds and skies with this definitive guide to cloudspotting, produced in association with the Met Office. Clouds have been the object of fascination throughout history, providing food for thought for scientists and daydreamers alike. In this comprehensive guide to the skies, Dr. Richard Hamblyn introduces you to all the different cloud species, including twelve newly recognized cloud forms. Produced in association with the Met Office—the world’s premier weather forecasting bureau—all things to do with the origin and development of a cloud are here. Whether you are looking at a giant fluffy cloud or a tiny fleeting wisp, your cloudspotting will be expertly informed and much more satisfying with this guide. Not only will you be able to identify individual clouds as they appear, but also to track their likely changes over time, and thus predict weather patterns. Illustrated with stunning images from around the globe, this book will unlock the mysteries of the skies so that you can enjoy cloudspotting and skygazing every day.




The Met Office Cloud Book - Updated Edition


Book Description

An updated edition of The Cloud Book, featuring 12 new recognised cloud forms. This guide to the clouds helps you identify cloud types and understand their implications for the weather. It follows a logical progression from low clouds to high stratus clouds, and on to special clouds, with a foreword from the Met Office's chief meteorologist.




Very British Weather


Book Description

UPGRADE YOUR SMALL TALK GUIDED BY WORLD-LEADING WEATHER EXPERTS! From Foggy and Freezing to Scorching and Stormy, join the ultimate weather adventure through the great British seasons and uncover the extraordinary in every single day*. Are YOU the ultimate weather watcher? Do you know your drizzle from your mizzle? Ever wondered what rainbows are really made of? And could you pinpoint where lightning has struck twice? Pore over beautiful cloudscapes, learn the secrets of sunsets, discover freak weather and fogbows, and why forecasting was so important in British history, from D-Day to the Great Fire of London. Perfect for rainy days in or cloudspotting on the go, the Met Office share the best of almost 170 years of forecasting for the first time in this beautifully illustrated book. Packed with mythbusting, top trivia, stunning visuals and archive gems, shooting the breeze has never been so interesting! *Even when it is tipping it down.




The Book of Clouds


Book Description

Clouds are simple enough, just a collection of ice crystals or water droplets visible to everyone. Yet they are a source of endless wonder. They appear in an infinite number of shapes and forms. Some are beautiful, some awe inspiring, and some, like the whirling funnel cloud, are terrifying. Clouds inspire artists, poets, songwriters. They have reminded astronauts, looking down from space, that Earth, a seemingly abstract orb, is a place of life and movement. those great swirls of white-as they change shape, swell, evaporate into wisps, disappear and come back, glow with sunlight or darken with rain-are a constant reminder of how dynamic our planet is.




The Cloudspotter's Guide


Book Description

Now in paperback: the runaway British bestseller that has cloudspotters everywhere looking up. Where do clouds come from? Why do they look the way they do? And why have they captured the imagination of timeless artists, Romantic poets, and every kid who's ever held a crayon? Veteran journalist and lifelong sky watcher Gavin Pretor-Pinney reveals everything there is to know about clouds, from history and science to art and pop culture. Cumulus, nimbostratus, and the dramatic and surfable Morning Glory cloud are just a few of the varieties explored in this smart, witty, and eclectic tour through the skies. Illustrated with striking photographs (including a new section in full-color) and line drawings featuring everything from classical paintings to lava lamps, The Cloudspotter's Guide will have enthusiasts, weather watchers, and the just plain curious floating on cloud nine.




The Pocket Cloud Book Updated Edition


Book Description

Learn how to understand the skies with this comprehensive pocket guide to cloudspotting. Clouds have been the object of fascination throughout history, their fleeting magnificence and endless variability providing food for thought for scientists and daydreamers alike. Clouds may have many individual shapes, but there are a few basic forms. In this definitive guide to the clouds and the skies, Richard Hamblyn introduces you to all the different cloud species. The Pocket Cloud Book will enable you to identify individual clouds, skies and phenomena. You will also be able to track their likely changes over time and predict the implications they have for the weather you may experience. This brand new pocket-size edition includes the 12 new cloud types only recently officially recognised by the World Meteorological Organization. Many of these previously only had informal names, but their new Latin classification brings them into the fold of officially adopted global meteorological terms. It also includes an updated section on climate change and the role that clouds might play in shaping future conditions on Earth. Produced in association with the Met Office - the world's premier weather forecasting bureau - all things to do with the origin and development of a cloud are here. Whether you are looking at a giant cumulonimbus or a tiny shred of stratus factus, an everyday occurrence or a fleeting rarity, your cloudspotting will be expertly informed and much more satisfying with this handy reference guide. This book will enable you to not only identify individual clouds and skies as they might appear at any given moment, but also to track their likely changes over time, and thus predict weather patterns. Illustrated with stunning images from around the globe, this pocket edition is the perfect size to take with you on walks and have it handy in the garden so that you can enjoy sky-gazing every day. This is the only guide to cloud classification that you will ever need, in handy and practical pocket-friendly size.




Cloud Atlas (20th Anniversary Edition)


Book Description

#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A timeless, structure-bending classic that explores how actions of individual lives impact the past, present and future—from a postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in fiction Featuring a new afterword by David Mitchell and a new introduction by Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century • Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize Cloud Atlas begins in 1850 with Adam Ewing, an American notary voyaging from the Chatham Isles to his home in California. Ewing is befriended by a physician, Dr. Goose, who begins to treat him for a rare species of brain parasite. The novel careens, with dazzling virtuosity, to Belgium in 1931, to the West Coast in the 1970s, to an inglorious present-day England, to a Korean superstate of the near future where neocapitalism has run amok, and, finally, to a postapocalyptic Iron Age Hawaii in the last days of history. But the story doesn’t end even there. The novel boomerangs back through centuries and space, returning by the same route, in reverse, to its starting point. Along the way, David Mitchell reveals how his disparate characters connect, how their fates intertwine, and how their souls drift across time like clouds across the sky. As wild as a video game, as mysterious as a Zen koan, Cloud Atlas is an unforgettable tour de force that, like its incomparable author, has transcended its cult classic status to become a worldwide phenomenon.




Cloud Computing in Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences


Book Description

Cloud Computing in Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences provides the latest information on this relatively new platform for scientific computing, which has great possibilities and challenges, including pricing and deployments costs and applications that are often presented as primarily business oriented. In addition, scientific users may be very familiar with these types of models and applications, but relatively unfamiliar with the intricacies of the hardware platforms they use. The book provides a range of practical examples of cloud applications that are written to be accessible to practitioners, researchers, and students in affiliated fields. By providing general information on the use of the cloud for oceanographic and atmospheric computing, as well as examples of specific applications, this book encourages and educates potential users of the cloud. The chapters provide an introduction to the practical aspects of deploying in the cloud, also providing examples of workflows and techniques that can be reused in new projects. - Provides real examples that help new users quickly understand the cloud and provide guidance for new projects - Presents proof of the usability of the techniques and a clear path to adoption of the techniques by other researchers - Includes real research and development examples - that are ideal for cloud computing adopters in ocean and atmospheric domains




Know Your Clouds


Book Description

Discover tons of fascinating information about different cloud families, unique cloud characteristics, optical phenomena - from rainbows to light crystals. Filled with beautiful photography and remarkable details about each cloud's composition, appearance, cause, and more, Know Your Clouds is a must-have pocket guide for readers of all ages.




A Cloud A Day


Book Description

'This charming volume reminds us that self-care is as available as a glance out the window' – The New York Times 'A confident celebration of our ever-changing skies... I defy anyone who reads it not to start taking furtive peeks out the window.' – Robert Leigh-Pemberton, The Daily Telegraph 'A gorgeous celebration of the wonder of clouds' – The People's Friend It's more important than ever to engage with the natural world. The sky is the most dramatic and evocative aspect of nature and looking up at the clouds is always good for the soul. Ever-changing and ephemeral, clouds reflect the shifting moods of the atmosphere in limitless compositions and combinations. Gavin Pretor-Pinney started the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2005. Since then, he's been encouraging people to 'look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and always remember to live life with your head in the clouds.' Membership to the Society now includes over 50k cloudspotters. Together, they capture and share the most remarkable skies, from sublime thunderstorms and perfect sunsets to hilarious object shaped clouds. A Cloud A Day is a beautifully illustrated book containing 365 skies selected by the Cloud Appreciation Society. There are photographs by sky enthusiasts around the world, satellite images and photographs of clouds in space, as well as skies depicted by great artists over the centuries. The clouds are accompanied by enlightening explanations, fascinating snippets of cloud science, poetry and uplifting quotations. The perfect dip-in-and-out book for anyone who wants to de-stress and reconnect with nature, A Cloud A Day will inspire you to open your eyes to the everyday beauty above and to spend a moment each day with your head in the clouds.