Review by Jeremy Miller
There are often discussions around the airfield about the climate, weather patterns, stability, instability, subsidence and other meteorological topics. As a past yachty, paraglider pilot, windsurfer, and current kite surfer, private pilot and now glider pilot, the weather has alway affected activities I undertake for enjoyment, yet it is something I do not know a lot about but have always wanted to study in greater depth. I was only able to attend one morning of the Cross Country course ran by Graeme Garlick in November, and during this discussion Graeme referred to a book that caught my eye and I hoped would increase my understanding - The Weather and Climate of Australia and New Zealand. Thus I felt most fortunate when I happened upon it in the Bargain Bin at http://seekbooks.com.au.
As this book is written as a text book for meteorology students it is well laid out, easy to follow, descriptive and well supported by images, figures and tables. It also includes some formulae for conducting calculations for those who are interested in the mathematical theory. This book is not directly aviation focused and discusses the weather climate in general which gives a much broader description that will support any aviation meteorology study you may have already undertaken.
The book is divided into 11 chapters in four parts dealing with:
- Global Patterns,
- Regional Patterns (synoptic scale),
- Local Patterns (sub-synoptic scale), and
- Climate Change.
The first three parts are loaded with information directly relevant to Gliding. Part 1 describes the construct of the atmosphere, radiative processes and global circulation patterns. Part 2 concentrates on air-mass characteristics, atmospheric stability, horizontal motion (why the wind blows parallel to isobars, and not directly from the high to low pressure), weather systems in Australia and New Zealand and weather forecasting. Part 3 focuses on regional scale effects such orographic lifting, thunderstorms and regional climate variations. I haven't read Part 4 yet so can't comment on its relevance.
In particular I have found Parts 1 and 2 of this book relevant to gliding as they describe the common atmospheric, climatic and meteorological processes. Included in these are sections devoted to thermals, cloud types, fronts, inversions and lapse rates. I have used this book to support my own study for power pilots licence examinations and increase my knowledge on meteorology in general. I highly recommend it and consider that due to the importance of weather to our sport, for those interested in the theory this book should probably be part of your aviation library allowing you to refer back to it to refresh on the subjects discussed.
Both the first and second editions are available. The second edition contains updates and expanded explanations on atmospheric humidity and stability, stability of the layers of air, weather forecasting, climate variability and atmospheric modelling.
Author: Andrew Sturman, Nigel Tapper
Publisher: Oxford University Press, February 2006
ISBN: 019558466X EAN: 9780195584660
Available from http://www.fishpond.com.au and http://seekbooks.com.au
Price ranges from $55 - $155
For those of you who are interested in learning a little more about the weather NOAA have a simple online school for weather (though US focused) at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/index.htm