Topics in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics: Atmospheric Dynamics, Dynamo Theory, and Climate Dynamics

The vigorous stirring of a cup of tea gives rise, as we all know, to interesting fluid dynamical phenomena, some of which are very hard to explain. In this book our "cup of tea" contains the currents of the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, mantle, and fluid core. Our goal is to understand the basic physical processes which are most important in describing what we observe, directly or indirectly, in these complex systems. While in many respects our understanding is measured by the ability to pred...