An Introduction to Programming with IDL: Interactive Data Language Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Nothing is more intimidating to a new user of IDL than to sit down at a computer with an empty command line prompt and a stack of manuals on their desk and be told to write an IDL program. Where to begin!? And the experience is especially frightening to a new user with little or no programming experience in any language, let alone IDL.
Ken Bowman has written an IDL book specifically for this user. It is intended as an introductory computer programming course for the research user with little or no training in any computer language, and it evolved from notes Ken uses in his own undergraduate IDL programming courses. It is meant to get the new IDL user analyzing and plotting data as soon as possible.
It is a narrow path he treads, because it is just as easy to offer too much detail as it is to offer too little information to the beginning user. Ken, for the most part, gets it exactly right in covering a broad selection of topics. I quibble with just two chapters. He sweeps aside the complexity of PostScript output by offering the new user two utility programs he fails to explain in the text, and his theoretical explanation of the FFT function left me gasping for breath and lamenting I hadn't paid closer attention in those long-ago math classes.
This is a book that will get you started, but probably won't answer all your questions when you turn your attention to more difficult research problems. Ken doesn't pretend it is anything other than what it is, however, and provides generous and helpful suggestions for where you can find additional information as you become ready for it. Readers already familiar with another programming language will appreciate this introduction to IDL, but might become frustrated with the slower pace and lack of specific detail on many topics.
The book has an associated web page, where you can find, among other things, the source code for all the programs mentioned in the book. Pay particular attention to the Errata section, especially if you are interested in structures in IDL. A printer glitch removed all the curly brackets from Ken's IDL code in the structure chapter and none of the examples will work as written in the book. A software problem, no doubt. (The example programs for the chapter are correct.) It serves as a reminder to me of how complex a topic software programming can be. This friendly book will be a welcome introduction to the subject for many a potential IDL programmer.

Click Here to see more reviews about: An Introduction to Programming with IDL: Interactive Data Language

In today's information age, scientists and engineers must quickly and efficiently analyze extremely large sets of data. One of the best tools to accomplish this is Interactive Data Language (IDLÂ), a programming and visualization environment that facilitates numerical modeling, data analysis, and image processing.IDL's high-level language and powerful graphics capabilities allow users to write more flexible programs much faster than is possible with other programming languages.An Introduction to Programming with IDL enables students new to programming, as well as those with experience in other programming languages, to rapidly harness IDL's capabilities: fast, interactive performance; array syntax; dynamic data typing; and built-in graphics. Each concept is illustrated with sample code, including many complete short programs. ÂMargin notes throughout the text quickly point readers to the relevant sections of IDL manualsÂEnd-of-chapter summaries and exercises help reinforce learningÂStudents who purchase the book are eligible for a substantial discount on a student version of the IDL software

Get 39% OFF

Click here for more information about An Introduction to Programming with IDL: Interactive Data Language

Read More...

Introduction to Mathematical Modeling of Crop Growth: How the Equations Are Derived and Assembled Into a Computer Program Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book shows you how to develop an understanding of plant-soil-climate interaction and how to put them in model and finally programming. I suggest this book to anyone who wants to get into modeling.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Introduction to Mathematical Modeling of Crop Growth: How the Equations Are Derived and Assembled Into a Computer Program

Learning mathematical modeling need not be difficult. Unlike other books, this book not only lists the equations one-by-one, but explains in detail how they are each derived, used, and finally assembled into a computer program for model simulations. This book shows how mathematics is applied in agriculture, in particular to modeling the growth and yield of a generic crop. Topics covered are agriculture meteorology, solar radiation interception and absorption, evapotranspiration, energy and soil water balance, soil water flow, photosynthesis, respiration, and crop growth development.

Click here for more information about Introduction to Mathematical Modeling of Crop Growth: How the Equations Are Derived and Assembled Into a Computer Program

Read More...

Modeling Dynamic Climate Systems (With CD-ROM) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book aims to teach about climate modeling while presenting some fundamentals of atmospheric physics by providing numerous STELLA models ranging from a simple stability model of a leaky bucket to much more complex (and relevant) models for Rossby waves and El Nino. Though the models are not "rigorous", they are intended to show how simplifications can enhance understanding and how some simplifications meet the goals of the model while other times simplifications miss important aspects for accurate models.
For those who are looking for sophisticated programing and modeling approaches, they are sure to be disappointed. However, for those who are either trying to learn or teach basics of climate modeling to those with limited mathematical expertise or teaching students with such limited experience, this book will prove quite useful. The approximately 40 STELLA models included with the book guide the reader to an intuitive understanding of an Earth system approach of atmospheric science. I plan to use a number of examples with a group of students who have only a simple calculus background. Though the text has a 2001 copywrite and the CD-ROM was intended for an earlier version of STELLA, I found that the models could be translated to the newest versions of STELLA on a Macintosh through a fairly simple manipulations and help from software updates provided by High Performance Systems. The text would be useful for junior level classes in atmospheric science aimed at students in environmental science programs. It would be less useful for those with strong math skills majoring in a rigorous atmospheric science sequence, though it could provide such students with a much better conceptual understanding than they might receive in a more mathematically sophisticated class.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Modeling Dynamic Climate Systems (With CD-ROM)

In the process of building and using models to comprehend the dynamics of the atmosphere, ocean and climate, the reader will learn how the different components of climate systems function, interact with each other, and vary over time. Topics include the stability of climate, Earths energy balance, parcel dynamics in the atmosphere, the mechanisms of heat transport in the climate system, and mechanisms of climate variability. Special attention is given to the effects of climate change. The book is accompanied by a cross-platform CD-ROM containing models and a run-time version of STELLA modeling software.

Get 20% OFF

Click here for more information about Modeling Dynamic Climate Systems (With CD-ROM)

Read More...

Introduction To Three-dimensional Climate Modeling Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)While this isn't a complete introduction, and while it may inevitably be slightly out of date, this is nonetheless the best introduction to climate modeling I've found. It presents the primary methods, and discusses the accomplishments and shortcomings of the field honestly (if at times a bit defensively).
There are clear limitations to climate modeling. For anyone with training in more mainstream Artificial Intelligence techniques, it's very uncomfortable to "test on the training data," which is exactly what climate modelers must do (i.e., they must run their models on the recent past, and if their models don't perform well on it, they will be tweaked until they do--effectively "cheating" because fidelity to the recent past is obviously no indication of predictive power if you tweak the model specifically to work on the recent past). Much of the uncertainty comes from sub-grid interactions that must be parameterized. For example, the formation of clouds is still an area of great uncertainty, and yet has an enormous effect on the climate. The authors recognize this issue, and identify it as a field where future research should focus.
On the other hand, climate modeling has been extremely useful as an inspiration to the imagination, and in working out the logical implications of what we currently believe to be true (both through those things that can be tested in a lab, like the absorption spectrum of carbon dioxide, or those that need to be parameterized, like cloud formation). We can't predict the future, but models allow us to get a sense of what may happen.
The authors discuss all of this, and illustrate it throughout. Of course, as scientists who have spent their lives in climate modeling, they are as supportive of climate modeling as one might expect. But they are also good scientists, and therefore open about the shortcomings.
In short, I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants an introduction to climate modeling. It's a fascinating and important subject that more people should know more about.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Introduction To Three-dimensional Climate Modeling

This book provides an introduction to the development of three-dimensional climate models, including their four major components: atmosphere, ocean, land/vegetation, and sea ice. The fundamental processes in each component and the interactions among them are explained using basic scientific principles, and elements of the numerical methods used in solving the model equations are also provided. The authors show how the theory and models grew historically and how well they are able to account for known aspects of the climate system. This book is written so that a reader who is only vaguely aware of climate models will be able to gain an understanding of what the models are attempting to simulate, how the models are constructed, what the models have succeeded in simulating, and how the models are being used. Examples illustrating the use of the models to simulate aspects of the current climate system are followed by examples illustrating the application of the models to important scientific areas such as understanding paleoclimates, the last millennium, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation, and the effects of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations on future climate change. The book is appropriate for scientists, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduates and can be used as a textbook or for self study and reference. The authors have considerably updated the book from the first edition by adding descriptions of many techniques and results developed since the mid-1980s.

Get 25% OFF

Click here for more information about Introduction To Three-dimensional Climate Modeling

Read More...

Climate System Modeling Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book you can use to get a really good picture of what climate modelling really is. You should be somewhat into your studies and not a first year student.The book covers virtually every topic that is important if you want to build your own climate model.Do not try this, though; your PC cannot work with all the subsystems that are described in the volume. Following Schneiders 1982 book this is really guff!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Climate System Modeling

This interdisciplinary volume aimed at graduate students and researchers provides a thorough grounding in the tools necessary for an appreciation of climate change and its implications. It discusses not only the primary concepts involved but also the mathematical, physical, chemical and biological basis for the component models and the sources of uncertainty, the assumptions made and the approximations introduced. Climate System Modeling addresses all aspects of the climate system: the atmosphere and the oceans, the cryosphere, terrestrial ecosystems and the biosphere, land surface processes and global biogeochemical cycles. As a comprehensive text it will appeal to students and researchers concerned with any aspect of climatology and the study of related topics in the broad earth and environmental sciences.

Get 28% OFF

Click here for more information about Climate System Modeling

Read More...

Mesoscale Meteorological Modeling, Volume 78, Second Edition (International Geophysics) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I read the Reviewer's comments and appreciate his overall positive review. However, I feel it is necessary to clarify misconceptions regarding the basic physics material which is presented in the review.
The conservation equations that are presented do not mean a quantity such as heat is always conserved. As discussed in the text, there are sources and sinks of heat in the conservation of equation of heat that is presented. A conservation equation for motion is also just as appropriate as writing a conservation equation for momentum. We can write a conservation equation for any quantity, such as a trace gas (e.g. CO2). Source/sink terms can be accounted for in this mathematical framework.
The equations in the book are specifically written for the atmosphere, which is treated as an ideal gas. This is why the qualification is added in the text that the equations are for the atmosphere (and specifically the earth's atmosphere). The equations developed in the book from the first principle of thermodynamics are only appropriate for the earth's atmosphere, since the ideal gas equation for air is used.
The basic phyics text in Chapters 2 and 3 have been extensively reviewed by numerous students and others and has been found to be solidly based in fundamental concepts. The Reviewer did correctly find a typo in that the virtual temperature is greater than the actual temperature whenever water vapor is present. The inequality on page 8 was reversed but the text and the explanation in that paragraph are correct and should be clear to a reader.
Finally, I thank the reviewer for taking the time to complete the review. If there is a third Edition, I certainly will acknowledge that review.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Mesoscale Meteorological Modeling, Volume 78, Second Edition (International Geophysics)

The second edition of Mesoscale Meteorological Modeling is a fully revised resource for researchers and practitioners in the growing field of meteorological modeling at the mesoscale.Pielke has enhanced the new edition by quantifying model capability (uncertainty) by a detailed evaluation of the assumptions of parameterization and error propagation.Mesoscale models are applied in a wide variety of studies, including weather prediction, regional and local climate assessments, and air pollution investigations.

Get 11% OFF

Click here for more information about Mesoscale Meteorological Modeling, Volume 78, Second Edition (International Geophysics)

Read More...

Fundamentals of Atmospheric Modeling Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is Mr. Jacobson's latest update to his unique text on the mathematical modeling of the atmosphere. I think it would be impossible to fully utilize this book if you have not already mastered college level physics, organic chemistry, calculus, both ordinary and partial differential equations, and numerical analysis and have some knowledge of atmospheric science. There are plenty of computer projects spread throughout this book too, so I guess a further requirement would be familiarity with a programming language, preferably MATLAB. This book basically merges all of these fields together in order to develop numerical models of atmospheric behavior. In fact, it looks like it would be a tough read for anyone who is not a graduate student of both atmospheric science and mathematics. By cross-referencing this book's material with old textbooks I was able to get through chapter 5 OK, but I hit a wall when I got to the material on numerical solutions to partial differential equations in chapter six. My advice for scientists and engineers that need to know more about the atmosphere, meteorology, and the accompanying mathematics so that they can do some modeling but don't have the Ph.D. pedigree necessary to get the most out of this book might want to invest in two other particular volumes:
1. "Meteorology Today : An Introduction to Weather, Climate, and the Environment" by Ahrens. It is well-written and easy to read. Plus, it splits the difference between science-fair style books written for high schoolers and terse texts that read like a Ph.D. thesis. Buy it used without the CD or Infotrak and save yourself some money though!
2. "Meteorology for Scientists and Engineers : A Technical Companion Book to C. Donald Ahrens' Meteorology Today" by Stull. It provides the mathematical equations needed for a higher level of understanding of meteorology. The organization is mapped directly to the Ahrens book, and it contains detailed math and physics that expand upon concepts presented in Ahrens' text, as well as numerous solved problems.
Amazon does not have the table of contents for the latest edition of Jacobson's book, so I show that here:
1 Introduction
2 Atmospheric structure, composition, and thermodynamics
3 The continuity and thermodynamic energy equations
4 The momentum equation in Cartesian & spherical coordinates
5 Vertical-coordinate conversions
6 Numerical solutions to partial differential equations
7 Finite-differencing the equations of atmospheric dynamics
8 Boundary-layer and surface processes
9 Radiative energy transfer
10 Gas-phase species, chemical reactions, and reaction rates
11 Urban, free-tropospheric, and stratospheric chemistry
12 Methods of solving chemical ODE's
13 Particle components, size distributions, and size structures
14 Aerosol emission and nucleation
15 Coagulation
16 Condensation, evaporation, deposition, and sublimation
17 Chemical equilibrium and dissolution processes
18 Cloud thermodynamics and dynamics
19 Irreversible aqueous chemistry
20 Sedimentation, dry deposition, and air-sea exchange
21 Model design, application, and testing


Click Here to see more reviews about: Fundamentals of Atmospheric Modeling

This is a new edition of the successful and comprehensive textbook on the atmospheric processes, numerical methods, and computational techniques required for advanced students and scientists to successfully study air pollution and meteorology.

Get 15% OFF

Click here for more information about Fundamentals of Atmospheric Modeling

Read More...

Texturing and Modeling, Third Edition: A Procedural Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is an update of a classic book on procedural texturing and modeling by the main founders of the field. The book presents lengthy discussions of classical procedural texturing using various noise functions of the sort originated by Ken Perlin (one of the authors). It discusses newer texturing techniques such as cellular texturing, which can be used, for example, to create convincing stone patterns. Other chapters focus on animating solid textures (e.g. marble forming, volumetric gasses, etc.), fractal terrain generation, and tips for utilizing existing graphics APIs and hardware for realtime procedural texturing. This is only a sampling of the topics covered.
Code samples in C and RenderMan are given throughout, although most algorithms are given in only one of those languages. This can be a bit of a problem, as many readers will probably not have access to a RenderMan implementation. Nevertheless, it is not too difficult to translate the RenderMan code into C code in many instances.
The biggest drawback to this book is its lack of rigorous technical coverage. The decision to omit many mathematical details was a conscious choice on the part of the authors. Instead the book is mostly prose discussion of the techniques and the coarse descriptions of the underlying concepts. Although the prose is mostly clear, many times I felt myself in need of more specific, technical details. Fortunately, the book's authors are the primary researchers in this field and most of the ideas in the book have been published in academic journals. It was very easy to supplement the book with these primary sources.
Overall I found this to be a very interesting and useful book, with many algorithms essentially ready-to-run right out of the book. It would get five stars, except for the lack of technical and mathematical details mentioned above. Every serious worker in graphics needs to have this book on their shelf. I use mine often.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Texturing and Modeling, Third Edition: A Procedural Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)

The third edition of this classic tutorial and reference on procedural texturing and modeling is thoroughly updated to meet the needs of today's 3D graphics professionals and students. New for this edition are chapters devoted to real-time issues, cellular texturing, geometric instancing, hardware acceleration, futuristic environments, and virtual universes. In addition, the familiar authoritative chapters on which readers have come to rely contain all-new material covering L-systems, particle systems, scene graphs, spot geometry, bump mapping, cloud modeling, and noise improvements. There are many new spectacular color images to enjoy, especially in this edition's full-color format.As in the previous editions, the authors, who are the creators of the methods they discuss, provide extensive, practical explanations of widely accepted techniques as well as insights into designing new ones. New to the third edition are chapters by two well-known contributors: Bill Mark of NVIDIA and John Hart of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on state-of-the-art topics not covered in former editions.An accompanying Web site (www.texturingandmodeling.com) contains all of the book's sample code in C code segments (all updated to the ANSI C Standard) or in RenderMan shading language, plus files of many magnificent full-color illustrations.No other book on the market contains the breadth of theoretical and practical information necessary for applying procedural methods. More than ever, Texturing & Modeling remains the chosen resource for professionals and advanced students in computer graphics and animation. *New chapters on: procedural real-time shading by Bill Mark, procedural geometric instancing and real-time solid texturing by John Hart, hardware acceleration strategies by David Ebert, cellular texturing by Steven Worley, and procedural planets and virtual universes by Ken Musgrave.*New material on Perlin Noise by Ken Perlin.*Printed in full color throughout.*Companion Web site contains revised sample code and dozens of images.

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about Texturing and Modeling, Third Edition: A Procedural Approach (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics)

Read More...