Mesoscale-Convective Processes in the Atmosphere

This new textbook seeks to promote a deep yet accessible understanding of mesoscale-convective processes in the atmosphere. Mesoscale-convective processes are commonly manifested in the form of thunderstorms, which are fast evolving, inherently hazardous, and can assume a broad range of sizes and severity. Modern explanations of the convective-storm dynamics, and of the related development of tornadoes, damaging 'straight-line' winds and heavy rainfall, are provided. Students and weather professionals will benefit especially from unique chapters devoted to observations and measurements of mesoscale phenomena, mesoscale prediction and predictability, and dynamical feedbacks between mesoscale-convective processes and larger-scale motions.

1. The atmospheric mesoscale; 2. Theoretical foundations; 3. Observations and mesoscale data analysis; 4. Mesoscale numerical modeling; 5. The initiation of deep convective clouds; 6. Elemental convective processes; 7. Supercells: a special class of long-lived rotating convective storms; 8. Mesoscale convective systems; 9. Interactions and feedbacks; 10. Mesoscale predictability and prediction.

Robert J. Trapp received his PhD in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma in 1994. He was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow and then was appointed as a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies and the National Severe Storms Laboratory. Part of this appointment was spent at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Trapp joined the faculty at Purdue University in 2003: he is currently Professor and Associated Head of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He holds the distinction as a University Faculty Scholar, awarded to outstanding faculty members who are on an accelerated path for academic distinction. Trapp has also been recognized as an Outstanding Teacher in the College of Science and has appeared on his departmental teaching honor roll in every semester of his tenure at Purdue. He is an expert on convective storms, their attendant hazards and their two-way interaction with the larger-scale atmosphere.