Product Description

An entirely new way for students to observe, analyze, and understand meteorology, - Steven A. Ackerman and John A. Knox's METEOROLOGY: UNDERSTANDING THE ATMOSPHERE is scientific, topical, and scholarly. The authors use vivid photographs and compelling real-life stories to present the subject of weather as it directly affects your students. METEOROLOGY generates genuine enthusiasm for the subject by using conceptual models and engaging narrative to truly make weather phenomena come alive. METEOROLOGY emphasizes how we observe the atmosphere and then uses those observations to explain atmospheric phenomena. New "Observational Questions" further extend this emphasis by asking students to analyze photographs, data, or their own experiences. By learning how to interpret scientific observations of the atmosphere, students can deepen their understanding of the subject. The second edition offers complete integration with MeteorologyNow™, the first assessment-driven and student-centered online learning solution created specifically for this course. MeteorologyNow™ uses a series of chapter-specific diagnostic tests to build a personalized learning plan for each student, allowing students to focus their study time on specific areas of weaknesses. Each personalized learning plan directs students to specific text sections as well as to a set of over three dozen Java applets designed to augment their understanding. These acclaimed applets, designed by Tom Whittaker and co-author Steven Ackerman, are divided into two types, "Observational Learning" applets deal with interpreting satellite imagery and "Atmospheric Explorations" extend the book's treatment of key topics, such as weather map analysis and numerical weather models.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #918938 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-08
• Released on: 2006-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

About the Author
Steven Ackerman is Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is Director of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University. Ackerman's research interests center on understanding how changes in the radiation balance affect and are affected by changes in other climate variables such as clouds, aerosols, water vapor, and surface properties. These feedback mechanisms are studied using a compliment of theoretical models and observations. He has been actively involved in a number of meteorological projects and programs, including the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment, the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program, and the NOAA Global Climate Change Program. Renowned for his ability to inspire active student participation in his classes, Ackerman has won numerous teaching and academic awards, including the 1999 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching (University of Wisconsin) and the 2000 Teaching and Learning with Technology Grant (University of Wisconsin). Ackerman is also a member of the University of Wisconsin Teaching Academy.

John Knox is currently Assistant Research Scientist and Lecturer in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia. In addition to his teaching experience at the University of Georgia, Knox has also taught meteorology at Valparaiso University and Barnard College of Columbia University. A National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in meteorology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Rhodes Scholar finalist, he received a B.S. summa cum laude in mathematics in 1988 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Ph.D. in atmospheric science in 1996 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a post-doctoral fellow in climate systems at Columbia University in conjunction with the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA/GISS) in New York City. Knox has been very active in geoscience education, with articles published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, the Journal of Geoscience Education, Mathematical Geology, The Physics Teacher, and the Journal of College Science Teaching, for which he has also served on JCST's Board of Advisors. His research in atmospheric dynamics includes journal articles on Rossby waves, non-linear balance, clear-air turbulence, and cyclone-induced windstorms, and is currently supported by NASA.

Customer Reviews

Book applets nominated for Pixie Awards
The applets available in association with this book (The Why Files Interactives) have been nominated for excellence in website design that incorporates motion. See the press release below:

3rd Annual Pixie Nominations Honor Online Films and Animations

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., March 17, 2004 -- On the heels of an earlier than usual Oscars, the Directors Board of Broadband Motion Pixure Arts and Technologies today released nominees for its 3rd Annual Pixie Awards, which honor achievement in online and broadband motion picture production.

Formally known as the Directors Board Awards for Achievement in Broadband Motion Pixure Production, the Pixie Awards are widely considered the top award -- if not the only award -- in a burgeoning area of artistic endeavor that includes animation, film, and web site design.

"It's an enormous honor to be nominated by the Pixie Awards in one category, but to be nominated in two categories is simply over the top!" said Looney Bin Animation Studios creative director Stan Holden upon hearing the good news about his animated feature Rebel Without a Claus.

"It's the equivalent of being nominated for an Oscar!" Holden added from his offices in Orange County, Calif.

The Pixie Awards include categories for Best Web Design that Incorporates Motion and Best Original Score for an i-Feature -- a film that resides entirely on the Internet.

...

The nominees for the 3rd Annual Pixie Awards are:
(edited for appropriate category)

Best Web Design that Incorporates Motion

SantaFeHealingArt --
Anand Nunnally, Jill Schwarz, Jason Goodyear, Clarence Cline, Lucinda Dykes, and Michael Tincher, Designers

Jibjab -- Evan Spiridellis, Mike Jaffe and Gregg Spiridellis, Designers

***The Why Files Interactives -- Sue Medaris, Tom Whittaker and Steve Ackerman, Designers

Award-winning book
This book has won a Talby Award from the Society of Academic Authors. Please see release below.

Meteorologists' book wins visuals award
WINONA, Minn., March 24, 2003 -- A college meteorology textbook by Steve Ackerman and John Knox won a William Henry Fox Talbot Prize for excellence in visuals from the Sociey of Academic Authors. The book, Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere, published by Brooks/Cole under the editorshop of Keith Dodson, was praised by one member of the SA2 panel of judges as an "exceptional job pulling together relevant data to be presented in original graphic formats." Said other judges: "The text is visually sophisticated, truly interesting, and up-to-date, with always apt and sometimes ravishing images, figurative models, and tables used to support its thoughtful pedagogy." "This book has some of the most pretty and apt graphics that I have ever seen in a textbook.""Quite simply, the production quality is superb." "Visuals are integral and are used generously." Learning of the award, Knox said: "I'm excited to see that the judges appreciated our efforts so thoroughly -- especially since Steve and I are both first-time authors. Knox is a research scientist and lecturer at the University of Georgia. Ackerman is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The announcement in the fourth in a series on the 2003 Talbies.