Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Updated and enhanced for this fourth edition. Ahrens' ability to explain relatively complicated ideas in a student-friendly, manageable fashion allows even non-science students to visualise the principles of meteorology.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• 1 The Earth's Atmosphere
• Overview of the Earth's Atmosphere
• Vertical Structure of the Atmosphere
• Weather and Climate
• 2 Warming The Earth And The Atmosphere
• Temperature and Heat Transfer
• Balancing Act-Absorption, Emission, and Equilibrium
• Incoming Solar Energy
• 3 Air Temperature
• Daily Temperature Variations
• The Controls of Temperature
• Air Temperature Data
• Measuring Air Temperature
• 4 Humidity, Condensation, And Clouds
• Circulation of Water in the Atmosphere
• Evaporation, Condensation, and Saturation
• Humidity
• Dew and Frost
• Fog
• Foggy Weather
• Clouds
• 5 Cloud Development And Precipitation
• Atmospheric Stability
• Determining Stability
• Cloud Development and Stability
• Precipitation Processes
• Precipitation Types
• Measuring Precipitation
• 6 Air Pressure And Winds
• Atmospheric Pressure
• Measuring Air Pressure
• Surface and Upper-Air Charts
• Why the Wind Blows
• Surface Winds
• Winds and Vertical Air Motions
• Measuring and Determining Winds
• 7 Atmospheric Circulations
• Scale of Atmospheric Motion
• Eddies-Big and Small
• Local Wind Systems
• Global Winds
• Global Wind Patterns and the Oceans
• 8 Air Masses, Fronts, And Middle-Latitude Cyclones
• Air Masses
• Fronts
• Middle-Latitude Cyclones
• 9 Weather Forecasting
• Acquisition of Weather Information
• Weather Forecasting Methods
• Weather Forecasting Using Surface Charts
• 10 Thunderstorms And Tornadoes
• Thunderstorms
• Tornadoes
• Severe Weather and Doppler Radar
• Waterspouts
• 11 Hurricanes
• Tropical Weather
• Anatomy of a Hurricane
• Hurricane Formation and Dissipation
• Naming Hurricanes
• 12 Air Pollution
• A Brief History of Air Pollution
• Types and Sources of Air Pollutants
• Factors That Affect Air Pollution
• Air Pollution and the Urban Environment
• Acid Deposition
• 13 Global Climate
• A World with Many Climates
• Climatic Classification-The Koppen System
• The Global Pattern of Climate
• 14 Climate Change
• The Earth's Changing Climate
• Possible Causes of Climatic Change
• Global Warming
• 15 Light, Color, And Atmospheric Optics
• White and Colors
• White Clouds and Scattered Light
• Blue Skies and Hazy Days
• Red Suns and Blue Moons
• Twinkling, Twilight, and the Green Flash
• The Mirage: Seeing is Not Believing
• Halos, Sundogs, and Sun Pillars
• Rainbows
• Coronas and Cloud Iridescence
• Appendix A Units, Conversions, Abbreviations, and Equations
• Appendix B Equations and Constants
• Appendix C Weather Symbols and the Station Model
• Appendix D Humidity and Dew-Point Tables (Psychromatic Tables)
• Appendix E Standard Atmosphere
• Appendix F Beaufort Wind Scale (Over Land)
• Appendix G Annual Global Pattern of Precipitation
• Appendix H Koppen's Climatic Classification System
• Additional Reading Material
• Glossary
• Index
• Credits