POLAR LOWS: MESOSCALE WEATHER SYSTEMS IN THE POLAR REGIONS; ED. BY ERIK A. RASMUSSEN

Polar Lows which provides a comprehensive review of our understanding of the small, high-latitude weather systems known as polar lows. These often vigorous depressions are a hazard to maritime operations and high-latitude communities, yet have only been investigated in detail since the 1960s. In this 2003 volume the authors describe the climatological distribution of these lows, the observational investigations into their structure, their operational forecasting and the theoretical research into why they develop. They also discuss the experiments carried out with high-resolution numerical weather forecast models that have shown that some polar lows can be predicted a day or more in advance. The book has been written by a number of experts within the field and has been carefully edited to form an integrated, cohesive volume. It will be of value to researchers in meteorology and climatology, as well as professional weather forecasters concerned with polar regions. Providing a comprehensive review of our understanding of the small, high latitude weather systems known as polar lows, Erik Rasmussen and John Turner describe the climatological distribution of these depressions. They cover observational investigations into their structure, the operational forecasting of polar lows and the theoretical research into why they develop. They also discuss the experiments that reveal that some polar lows can be predicted. This book is of value to researchers and professional weather forecasters concerned with polar regions. "The book has been written by a number of experts within the field and has been carefully edited to form an integrated, cohesive volume. It will be of value to meteorologists and climatologists with an interest in the polar regions, as well as professional weather forecasters concerned with these areas. It may also be used as a supplementary text on graduate courses concerned with high latitude geography, meteorology, and climatology."--Book jacket Polar Lows reviews our understanding of the small, high-latitude weather systems known as polar lows. The text describes their distribution and structure, and discusses why they develop and how they may be predicted. This book will appeal to researchers and professional forecasters concerned with weather in polar regions. In this volume we are concerned with the whole range of mesoscale lows with a horizontal length scale of less than c.