Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 103 (2000) 315–317
Book reviews
Weather and climate: cause, course, effect, anima-tion
Harald Frater (Ed.), Springer-Verlag, 1999, ISBN, 3-540-14667-9
The CD-ROM Weather and Climate is intended as an introduction to the study of weather and cli-matic processes for students, teachers and the general public. It is a multimedia, interactive program from which a plethora of graphics may be launched. The text also includes numerous links (analogous to html links) that permit the user to jump to topics covered in more detail. Weather and Climate is a splendid use of technology to visually enhance the subject. How-ever, a disparity in the quality between the graphics visualization and the text is apparent.
The install procedure was somewhat problematic because the instructions were in German. I assume this will be corrected before the final release of the prod-uct. The general design takes some up-front time to get used to, but is generally well organized. It would be worthwhile to provide some initial instructions. For example, the wait time on software start-up with cred-its, introductions, etc., was frustrating to go through time-and-time again, and only after some experimen-tation did I find out that a left-click on the mouse would bypass all of this.
The written text has some technical problems. Basic elements like spelling errors are particularly glaring and consistent though arguably easily fixed. Some of these mistakes are confusing. For example, the term reflection is sometimes spelled as reflexion. The En-glish is somewhat quirky: It reads as if it were trans-lated too literally from another language (i.e. German) and is missing the natural feel or flow of a native English writer.
The jacket states that the CD “explains all important aspects of weather patterns ... in a comprehensible
manner.” I am not wholly convinced. A major concern is the way some topics are ordered. Simply stated, some definitions are not introduced in sequence, which may lead to some confusion on the student’s part. It would be better to make sure that definitions are introduced before terms are used, and then have a link to serve more for revision.
There are a number of scientific errors that could lead to misconceptions. Some of them may have oc-curred through translation, but the loose use of terms and definitions is problematic. Some examples: (a) in the discussion of the greenhouse effect, it is stated that greenhouse gases reflect terrestrial radiation — this, of course, is not correct. It is the absorption and sub-sequent emission of the terrestrial radiation by carbon dioxide and water vapor that leads to the effect. The greenhouse effect graphic is misleading. By establish-ing a roof around the atmosphere, the analogy is taken in the wrong direction. Perhaps it would be better to note that, at best, it is an analogy and that there are differences between the greenhouse which stays warm by suppressing convection, as compared to the atmo-sphere where increased amounts of certain gases ab-sorb more terrestrial radiation than would normally be the case. (b) The conceptual model of the ellipti-cal orbit of the Earth is a classiellipti-cal example that might foster wrong conclusions. Such an exaggeration of the elliptical orbit promotes a belief that the seasons are caused by the sun-earth distance rather than the an-gle of inclination of the planet. As we move into new powerful media and ways of presenting concepts and ideas, can we correct the mistakes that have been re-iterated in numerous textbooks.
The physical basis of meteorology is not dealt with particularly well here. As it stands, a student would need a supplementary text in order to gain the nec-essary background to understand much of the subject material in Weather and Climate. I am not sure if this
316 Book reviews was on purpose or an oversight. There is no basic physics that would lead the student to understand much of the meteorology. For example, there is no mention of the definition and the balance of forces that result in the wind. A section on atmospheric stability is com-pletely missing, without which a true understanding of clouds, thunderstorms, etc. is founded. I would sur-mise that most students would be completely lost in a discussion of scattering and why the sky is blue with-out some understanding of Raleigh scattering. I also notice that both cgs and MKS units are used; again I would argue for consistency here (i.e. MKS).
The real strength of the CD lies in the graphics, animation and the video clips. Most of these are sim-ply exemplary. The videos, for example, transcend a description of the climate zones to include a human di-mensions aspect that identifies the interaction and im-pact of the human population. The section on climate diagrams and climate zones was particularly good, and coupled with the video clips, linked the theory rather nicely to the reality. Although this tended to be the exception rather than the rule, some of the graphics were a little disappointing (e.g. the one demonstrat-ing the Coriolis effect), but I would imagine in future editions they would be improved. Some graphics were mislabeled and should be corrected.
In conclusion, the teaching philosophy seems to be descriptive rather than inquisitive. The visualization sequences of the CD are appropriate. They are power-ful illustrations of multi-media techniques and I com-mend it whole-heartedly. However, what should be a cornerstone of the CD — the textual description of the science is not consistently good. At present, the visualization tools make an excellent supplement to a good textbook or instructor notes. If the quality of the written text were brought to this same standard, the CD could serve as the sole instructional media for an introductory class.
Dr. R. Gillies
Utah State University, Department of Plant Soils and Biometeorology, College of Agriculture Logan, UT 84322-4820, USA
Fax:+1-435-797-2117
E-mail: rgillies@cnr.usu.edu (R. Gillies)
Accepted 20 March 2000
PII: S 0 1 6 8 - 1 9 2 3 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 3 6 - 2
Ecosystems of the World, 20, Greenhouse Ecosys-tems
G. Stanhill, H. Zvi Enoch (Eds.), Elsevier, Amster-dam, 1998, Hardbound, ISBN 0-444-882677
This book is one of a series of 30 on Ecosys-tems of the World, including Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Underground Ecosystems. It is somewhat unusual, because ordinarily greenhouses would not have been considered to be in the same category as unenclosed ecosystems.
The history of greenhouses is described very well. However, the geographical distribution and world-wide area of greenhouses, including glasshouses and various types of plastic cladding structures, seems to be very poorly known. Perhaps, this inadequate knowledge is inevitable, but the greenhouse ecosys-tem itself must be quite variable depending upon the type of structure, ranging from large glass or plastic clad structures down to plastic row covers.
The topics of greenhouse energy balance and mi-croclimate are discussed in several of the chapters; and this is one of the strong points of the book. A table is provided that cross-referenced a number of avail-able greenhouse simulation models. This information should be valuable to researchers who might wish to optimize the design of greenhouses for environmental control and protection against excesses of the external environment. One chapter is devoted specifically to the optimal dynamic management of the greenhouse environment.
Although greenhouses are usually designed for use in monoculture production in a protected environ-ment, plant diseases and arthropod pests can flourish in these environments. One chapter each was devoted to these problems, and how the modified green-house environment itself might contribute to the pest problem.
Several topics are not adequately covered. More information is needed on cladding materials: solar transmission properties, thermal properties, sources and differences from various countries of the world. For instance, ‘SixLight’, a polyethylene telephtalate material used in Japan, is not mentioned. Probably, a whole chapter devoted to cladding would have been appropriate.
