attemps to explain: operation of
atmospheric heat engine, provide
physical basis to predict future state.
main tasks: 1. discover physical relationships with govern
atmospheric behaviour(e.g- enegry fluxes within the
atmosphere and through its boundaries). and to express the
relationships in quantative form. - 2. to find solutions (e.g.- to
predict atmospheric behaviour from these relations).(but this
doesnt necessarily mean 'forecasting' in the usua; sense of the
word).
methods: branches out of
physics which deals with different
types of energy.
theromodynamics- study of thermal energy
fluid dynamics- study of mechanical energy
radition- study of eletromagnetic
statistics
Assimilation- case studies in which 'typical' situations have
been selected. - (e.g Norwegian extra tropical cyclone model).
compositing- providing a way of generalizing systems - (e.g
tropical cyclone) . statistics- to summeries vast quantities of
data that are generated continuously by observation and by
modelling - to calculate quantities relevant to understanding
climate- to identify possible connections or relationships that
can subsequently be investigated by the physics of the
situation - to evaluate the performance of theoretical
numerical models relative to observations.
mathematical preliminaries:scalars- a quantity which: - process magnitide,
specified by a number and units, - combines with other similar quanitites
according to the laws of ordinary algebra (e.g- mass, length, time, temperature).
Vector: a quantity which - possess magnitude, specified by a number and units -
possess direction, specified by a line and a sense - combionaes with other
similar quantites according to special geometerical laws (e.g- force, velocity,
weight, acceleration).