The science of monsoon
advances rapidly in the last two decades. This book will offer a timely summary
of the breakthroughs and updated knowledge on the Asian monsoon.
It is intended to provide a
comprehensive interdisciplinary text book for senior college students and
graduate students and a professional reference
book for research scientists and professional people in the fields of
meteorology, oceanography, environmental science, geography, hydrology,
paleo-climatology, geology, agriculture and social science.
This volume will begin with
an over view of the Asian monsoon (chapter 1-3) climatology and its variability
on all time scales (Chapter 4 through 7). It will describe physical processes
governing monsoon formation and its variability (Chapter 8 through 13) as well
as its numerical modeling and prediction (Chapter 14 and 15). This book will
contribute to understanding of the monsoon environment by including analyses of
the monsoon in the past, human influences on monsoon climate, and the impacts
of monsoon to economy and environment (Chapter 16 through18).
The Asian monsoon is
perceived and treated as a multi-scale, coupled atmosphere-ocean-land dynamic
system that interacts with other components of the Earth’s climate system (such
as El Nino-Southern Oscillation) and with environmental processes. Each chapter
contains an authoritative review covering from major conceptual breakthrough to
frontier research issues on the subject. It brings new
ideas that are expected to markedly improve prediction of monsoon climate
variations and anthropogenic changes.