BOOK REVIEWS 111

On p. 162 Shukla talks of ‘the lack of a geostrophic constraint in low latitudes’ yet relates the thermal wind to horizontal temperature gradients there. I cannot believe that the concept of ‘local Hadley cell over the Pacific sector alone’ (p. 175) is a useful one to promote.

KaIlBn’s paper is a clear exposition of the philoso- phy behind the CharneyDevore multiple equilibrium model of blocking. He puts forward a more refined version of their model using spherical geometry and a wave vorticity source term, ostensibly to represent the forcing effect of transient eddies. Since publication of the Charneymevore paper in 1979, several studies have shown that bi-modality in the probability dis- tribution of the mean zonal wind (the hallmark of their model) is not observed in the atmosphere. Bi-modality has been found in the ultra-long waves however

(Sutera and Benzi) and so, even though the form-drag mechanism of Kallen’s model may be wrong, I still feel it to be a valuable article to include.

Some might regard Leith’s paper dealing with ‘Mod- ons’ (a particular type of steady. finite amplitude solution to the barotropic vorticity equation on a beta-plane) to be rather distant from the problems of long-range forecasting. Personally, I am glad that it has been included and am sure that relevance of ‘dynamically stable, non-linear structures’ will be in- creasingly appreciated even if the modon is not.

In summary, I was impressed with the readability of most of the articles in this book and strongly recom- mend it Yo those interested in forecasting from a thoeretical and dynamical viewpoint.

G. J. SHUT~S Meteorological Ofice

SATELLITE SENSING OF A CLOUDY ATMOSPHERE: OBSERVING THE THIRD PLANET, A. Henderson-Sellers (ed.), Taylor & Francis, London and Philadelphia, 1984. No of pages: xiv + 340, ISBN 0-80566-2540.

This book attempts a difficult task. It tries to com- bine results and literature reviews of remote sensing of land, ocean and atmosphere separately into one book which deals with all three as they relate to a cloudy atmosphere. This combination is attempted for a vari- ety of scales from global to regional, and on occasion to the pixel level, and although the editor has tried to link and interconnect chapters by different authors by using cross-references, the overall result is a book of mixed views and approaches which does not hold the coherence initially desired.

The structure of the book goes rightly from theory to applications. The Earth and atmosphere radiation budgets and water in the atmosphere are discussed in the early part of the book. After a chapter on vertical temperature sounding the later part of the book dis- cusses cloud characterization, clouds and the land, and clouds and the cryosphere.

Chapter 1 carries the title ‘Earth-the water planet’, but is not really about that. The emphasis is primarily on global cloud climatologies and on satellite systems. The central part of the chapter discusses global cloud climatologies, but the global maps which support the text are not good, and those on pp. 24-25 are very difficult to read and interpret. On the other hand, the chapter does have much useful tabular material to commend it. The second chapter discusses radiation, the atmosphere and satellite sensors. There is little of the latter, and of what there is the information on Landsat is very poor with many inaccuracies, for example Landsat-E and a 0.8-0-9 pm band for MSS7 (p. 87). The radiation discussion early in the chapter is

good as long as the reader is already familiar with the material, as there is too much of ‘it is clear that. . .’ which produces opaque linking passages. Chapter 3 concentrates on the Earth’s radiation budget and clouds, with an emphasis on global characteristics. This chapter certainly provides a very useful summary of research results, but does not maintain a coherent thread and wanders around heavily. Figure 3.11 refers to system albedo but does not explain it, and Figure 3.12 says it includes a regression formula but does not.

Chapters 4 and 5 are very different from the rest of the book. Chapter 4 contains much physical chemistry theory and methods of atmospheric chemistry sensing, and thereby diverges from the global view presented earlier. It also employs nm as units rather than the pm used previously. Chapter 5 discusses vertical tempera- ture sounding of the atmosphere:’the physics and the methods by which it is achieved. The emphasis here is less on spatial results, although in the latter part of the chapter (pp. 189-200) some regional and global maps are given.

Chapter 6 on cloud identification and characteriza- tion is clear to the point of over-simplicity, and re- quires a different reading level compared with other chapters, particularly chapters 4 and 5. It provides a useful summary with examples of cloud mapping pro- cedures. Chapter 7 discusses some of the effects of the atmosphere on remote sensing of the ground and the ocean, with an emphasis on AVHRR data, and Chap- ter 8 discusses cloud-cryosphere interactions, using microwave as well as visible and infrared wavelengths for remote sensing.

The editor notes that Bean and slime typographical errors were picked up, but did not spot Numbus on p. 311 and the text and picture confusion of dates on pp. 74-76. The pictures say 1981, the text 1980. The book is generally clearly laid out with readable text, and

112 BOOK REVIEWS

diagrams which are close to the points made. There could be an argument for more references, but key references are usually identified rather than an exhaus- tive list. The book succeeds in bringing together fac- tual information in tabular and map form, but the

material as presented does not hang together well.

RAY HARRIS Dept. of Geography

University of Durham