Down comes a deluge of sonorous hail, Or prone-descending rain. Wide-rent, the clouds Pour a whole flood, and yet, its flame unquenched, Th’unconquerable lightning struggles through. Ragged and fierce, or in red whirling balls, And fires the mountains with redoubled rage. Black from the stroke, above, the smould’ring pine Stands a sad shattered trunk; and, stretched below, A lifeless group the blasted cattle lie. James Thompson, “The Seasons” (1727) have been investigating ball lightning f...

Schumann resonance has been studied for more than half a century. The field became popular among researchers of the terrestrial environment using natural sources of electromagnetic radiation—lightning strokes, primarily—and now many Schumann observatories have been established around the world. A huge number of publications can be found in the literature, the most recent collection of which was presented in a special Schumann resonance section of the journal Radio Science in 2007....

New developments for hydrodynamical dynamo theory have been spurred by recent evidence of self-sustained dynamo activity in laboratory experiments with liquid metals.The emphasis in the present volume is on the introduction of powerful mathematical techniques required to tackle modern multiscale analysis of continous systems and there application to a number of realistic model geometries of increasing complexity.This introductory and self-contained research monograph summar...

This book offers a comprehensive review of our current understanding of the planetary boundary layer, particularly the turbulent exchanges of momentum, heat and passive scalars between the surface of the Earth and the atmosphere.It presents and discusses the observations and the theory of the turbulent boundary layer, both for homogeneous and more realistic heterogeneous surface conditions, as well as the dispersion of tracers. Lastly it addresses the main problems arising due to t...

This book investigates elementary processes in the Earth’s atmosphere involving photons, electrons, ions, radicals, and aerosols. It is based on global atmospheric models such as the standard atmospheric model with averaged atmospheric parameters across the globe and over time, the Earth’s energetic balance, and the global electric circuit that allows to analyze fundamental atmospheric properties to be analyzed. Rate constants of elementary processes in the Earth’s atmosphere, together wit...

Oxidation and removal of atmospheric constituents involve complex sequences of reactions which can lead to the production of photo-oxidants such as ozone. In order to understand and model these complex reaction sequences, it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of reaction mechanisms and accurate estimates of kinetic parameters for relevant gas-phase atmospheric reactions. This book presents recent advances in the field and includes the following topics: e.g. the oxidation of...

This book deals with the signatures left by geodynamic proceses in the temperature field of the Earth's crust. First, it introduces briefly the established, indirect methods for interpreting the present termperature field and methods for reconstructing the thermal fields of the geological past. Then the spatial and temporal scales that are relevant for heat transport processes are described. This problem is discussed both theoretically and on the basis of data from the German Continental Deep...

The present volume is an outcome of the scientific programme “Response of the Earth System to Impact Processes” (IMPACT) by the European Science Foundation (ESF). The ESF is an association of 67 national member organizations devoted to scientific research in 24 European countries. The IMPACT programme is aimed at understanding meteorite impact processes and their effects on the Earth System. Launched in 1998 for duration of 5 years, 15 ESF member organizations now participate in this progr...

The international symposium Towards an Integrated Global Geodetic Observing System was an initiative of section II Advanced Space Technology of the International Association of Geodesy (lAG). Ittook place in the building ofthe Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich from October 5 -9, 1998. About 130 scientists from 24 countries participated in the symposium. It was organized jointly by the Deutsches Geodatisches F orschungsinstitut and the Institut fUr Astronomische und Physikalische Geoda...

The Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and computer models project that it will rise much more over the next hundred years, with significant impacts on weather, climate, and human society. Many climate scientists attribute these increases to the build up of greenhouse gases produced by the burning of fossil fuels and to the anthropogenic production of short-lived climate pollutants. Climate Change Modeling Methodologies: Selected Entries from the Encyclop...

The feasibility to extract porous medium parameters from acoustic recordings is investigated. The thesis gives an excellent discussion of our basic understanding of different wave modes, using a full-waveform and multi-component approach. Focus lies on the dependency on porosity and permeability where especially the latter is difficult to estimate. In this thesis, this sensitivity is shown for interface-wave and reflected-wave modes. For each of the pseudo-Rayleigh and pseudo-Stoneley inte...

This book evolved from the 5th School of Environmental Research entitled„Persistent Pollution – Past, Present and Future", which has set a focus on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), heavy metals and aerosols.-reconstruction of past changes based on the scientific analysis of natural archives such as ice cores and peat deposits,-evaluation of the present environmental state by the integration of measurements and modelling and the establishment of ...