Parameterization Schemes: Keys to Understanding Numerical Weather Prediction Models

I'm a 'weather science enthusiast' who likes modeling things in the computer. This book was purchased out of a desire to better understand numerical models and implement some simple ones myself. It feels a bit dated now, but the explanations are straightforward and easy to understand. I'd argue the author still accomplishes his goal of teaching you how to understand and evaluate different parametrization schemes. I'm definitely looking it now with a greater understanding of how everything works and what the tradeoffs are. I don't have a background in the higher level of math, and you definitely need at least an undergraduate knowledge of weather science as this book rightfully assumes a good foundation. However, I find that it's still quite readable even if you're not in a position to derive things or catch possible mistakes. Overall I'm very happy to have this book and it has revealed a lot of the mysteries of weather prediction (and yes, there are tonnes and tonnes of formulas in there if that's what you're after).

Weather's big secret. The differential equations in the books you read in Meteorology courses are not used directly to model or predict weather. Parameterizations Schemes are used instead. The canonic differential equations of atmospheric motion are basically obvious motherhood. "What goes in must come out. " Yes, but how do you use real observations to model and predict weather? The answer is forget the differential equations and looks at Parameterization Schemes. The reason is that the Earth's atmosphere is compartmentalized in volumes using one or more discrete gridding schemes. Throw out continuous differential equations. Now you have errors from a plethora of sources. So you shrug your shoulders and go by some simplification that seems to meet what you have observed. Everybody passes the blame for the errors by referencing "Joe said so." You can say that in another manner by saying that no discrete grid can represent the atmospheric motion inside a single grid. So Jo said that I could estimate the value by .7 times the ... It looks like what I saw before. Shrug! We are cavemen looking at the clouds while waiting for a new form of speech to create the future mathematics required to model atmospheres. And that is why this book is so important. It is a collection of some of the spells, hexes, and superstitions of our day that will cause so much derision in the future. Sorry but that is the real state of the art not the Greek symbols used in so many other books. Don't worry. I did not say the differential equations are wrong. What goes in must still come out. Shrug.

I am so thankful that this book was written. I am a graduate student working on mesoscale meteorology models and good summaries of the many physics options was hard to find. This book fills that gap. It covers parameterization of land surface, soil & vegetation, water, surface layer & planetary boundary layer, convection, microphysics, radiation, clouds, and gravity waves. It is extremely well written (I read it cover to cover). It gives qualitative evaluations along with the necessary equations. The author reviews the basic science behind each type of parameterization at the beginning of each chapter, which avoids having to look back at other books for this information. The variables are defined after EACH equation so no having to look back to know what a letter stands for (every book should do this!). He also avoids unnecessary acronyms. He gives practical advices, such as at what resolution you should run convective vs. microphysics parameterizations. He also includes information on parameterizations for climate models.I highly recommend this book for anyone running NWP models.

Hi everyone, I strongly recommend this book to you! I am a student who studies the atmospheric sciences. And after I took the numerical model class in China I felt the class is unuseful, I need something else. After my first year as a graduate student, I found that the parameterization schemes are the really important thing in numerical model. I tried to find a book which is described the parameterization schemes; I only found this book is the right choice! I purchase it from Amazon even though it is so expensive for me. It told me a lot. Not only that, but also the exercise is very good.

It's almost like new! love it!

This book is a survey of the most commonly used types of parameterization schemes used in the numerical modeling of weather. The author explains why parametrization schemes are needed for modeling of the sub-grid phenomena - such as clouds. And, further, that parametrization scheme can materially influence the outputs of both short-range weather forecasts and global climate models. The book consists of 11 chapters, 9 of which provide scientific surveys of existing methodologies and approaches for each problem domain. The author discusses the science involved in these parametrization schemes but not numerical schemes for embodying the models or any type of code. The book is mostly useful for climate modelers and scientists that can use the knowledge gained from this book to various existing climate models. This is not a book suitable for self-study unless one has access to climate models and the computational resources to execute them. The book assumes prior knowledge of climate modeling as well as meteorology and weather forecasting. It is not very useful for people who do not have deep technical knowledge of computational climate science. The chapters may be studied independently of one another; I enjoyed reading chapters 7 and 9. In general, I agree with the review by kikeo58. But the subject matter does not lend itself to any other approaches at the present time.

This book is of great help for students working on numerical weather prediction. It offers sufficient details to better understand parameterization schemes used today in many weaher prediction models.

This book covers the most important parameterization schemes used in numerical models, from global circulation models, to weather prediction models, to mesoscale and cloud-resolving models. The author also covers the most widely used parameterization schemes in each category (boundary layer processes, cumulus convection, radiation, etc). It's easy to read and to understand and must-have to all researchers that are working with numerical modeling of atmosphere processes, in order to understand and access what models actually do, improving the interpretation of the model output.

I'm a 'weather science enthusiast' who likes modeling things in the computer. This book was purchased out of a desire to better understand numerical models and implement some simple ones myself. It feels a bit dated now, but the explanations are straightforward and easy to understand. I'd argue the author still accomplishes his goal of teaching you how to understand and evaluate different parametrization schemes. I'm definitely looking it now with a greater understanding of how everything works and what the tradeoffs are. I don't have a background in the higher level of math, and you definitely need at least an undergraduate knowledge of weather science as this book rightfully assumes a good foundation. However, I find that it's still quite readable even if you're not in a position to derive things or catch possible mistakes. Overall I'm very happy to have this book and it has revealed a lot of the mysteries of weather prediction (and yes, there are tonnes and tonnes of formulas in there if that's what you're after).

Weather's big secret. The differential equations in the books you read in Meteorology courses are not used directly tomodel or predict weather. Parameterizations Schemes are used instead.The canonic differential equations of atmospheric motion are basically obvious motherhood."What goes in must come out. " Yes, but how do you use real observations to model and predict weather?The answer is forget the differential equations and looks at Parameterization Schemes.The reason is that the Earth's atmosphere is compartmentalized in volumes using one ormore discrete gridding schemes. Throw out continuous differential equations. Now you haveerrors from a plethora of sources. So you shrug your shoulders and go by some simplificationthat seems to meet what you have observed. Everybody passes the blame for the errors by referencing "Joe said so."You can say that in another manner by saying that no discrete grid can represent the atmospheric motioninside a single grid. So Jo said that I could estimate the value by .7 times the ... It looks like what I saw before. Shrug!We are cavemen looking at the clouds while waiting for a new form of speech to create the future mathematics requiredto model atmospheres. And that is why this book is so important. It is a collection of some of the spells, hexes, andsuperstitions of our day that will cause so much derision in the future. Sorry but that is the real state of the art notthe Greek symbols used in so many other books.Don't worry. I did not say the differential equations are wrong. What goes in must still come out. Shrug.

I am so thankful that this book was written. I am a graduate student working on mesoscale meteorology models and good summaries of the many physics options was hard to find. This book fills that gap. It covers parameterization of land surface, soil & vegetation, water, surface layer & planetary boundary layer, convection, microphysics, radiation, clouds, and gravity waves. It is extremely well written (I read it cover to cover). It gives qualitative evaluations along with the necessary equations. The author reviews the basic science behind each type of parameterization at the beginning of each chapter, which avoids having to look back at other books for this information. The variables are defined after EACH equation so no having to look back to know what a letter stands for (every book should do this!). He also avoids unnecessary acronyms. He gives practical advices, such as at what resolution you should run convective vs. microphysics parameterizations. He also includes information on parameterizations for climate models.I highly recommend this book for anyone running NWP models.

Hi everyone, I strongly recommend this book to you! I am a student who studies the atmospheric sciences. And after I took the numerical model class in China I felt the class is unuseful, I need something else. After my first year as a graduate student, I found that the parameterization schemes are the really important thing in numerical model. I tried to find a book which is described the parameterization schemes; I only found this book is the right choice! I purchase it from Amazon even though it is so expensive for me. It told me a lot. Not only that, but also the exercise is very good.

It's almost like new! love it!

This book is a survey of the most commonly used types of parameterization schemes used in the numerical modeling of weather. The author explains why parametrization schemes are needed for modeling of the sub-grid phenomena - such as clouds. And, further, that parametrization scheme can materially influence the outputs of both short-range weather forecasts and global climate models.The book consists of 11 chapters, 9 of which provide scientific surveys of existing methodologies and approaches for each problem domain. The author discusses the science involved in these parametrization schemes but not numerical schemes for embodying the models or any type of code.The book is mostly useful for climate modelers and scientists that can use the knowledge gained from this book to various existing climate models. This is not a book suitable for self-study unless one has access to climate models and the computational resources to execute them.The book assumes prior knowledge of climate modeling as well as meteorology and weather forecasting. It is not very useful for people who do not have deep technical knowledge of computational climate science.The chapters may be studied independently of one another; I enjoyed reading chapters 7 and 9.In general, I agree with the review by kikeo58. But the subject matter does not lend itself to any other approaches at the present time.

This book is of great help for students working on numerical weather prediction. It offers sufficient details to better understand parameterization schemes used today in many weaher prediction models.

This book covers the most important parameterization schemes used in numerical models, from global circulation models, to weather prediction models, to mesoscale and cloud-resolving models. The author also covers the most widely used parameterization schemes in each category (boundary layer processes, cumulus convection, radiation, etc). It's easy to read and to understand and must-have to all researchers that are working with numerical modeling of atmosphere processes, in order to understand and access what models actually do, improving the interpretation of the model output.