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Elsevier

Books in Earth and planetary sciences

Elsevier's Earth and Planetary Sciences collection brings together pioneering research on the complexities of our planet and beyond. Covering topics from Earth's structural dynamics and ecosystems to planetary exploration, these titles support advancements in geoscience, environmental science, and space studies, offering essential insights for researchers, professionals, and students.

  • Solar Energy Conversion

    An Introductory Course
    • 1st Edition
    • A. E. Dixon + 1 more
    • English
    Solar Energy Conversion: An Introductory Course is a collection of papers that deals with the technical, mechanical, and operation concerns in converting solar energy. The title first details solar radiation, and then proceeds to discussing solar collectors. Next, the selection covers selective surfaces and the thermal regulation of buildings. The text also talks about planning of solar architectures. The next part tackles topics about the direct conversion of solar energy. Part VII discusses the control and measurement of collected solar energy, while Part VIII covers bioconversion and biomass. The book will be of great use to engineering and science students. Professionals involved in the research and development of solar technology will also benefit from the text.

  • Sporopollenin

    Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the Geology Department, Imperial College, London, 23–25 September, 1970
    • 1st Edition
    • J. Brooks + 2 more
    • English
    Sporopollenin presents the proceedings of a Symposium held at the Geology Department, Imperial College, London, on September 23-25, 1970. The book discusses the functional roles of spore and pollen grain walls, the sporopollenin concept, as well as spore wall patterning. The text also describes the role played by sporopollenin in the development of pollen in Pinus banksiana; the morphological and fluorescence microscopical investigation on sporopollenin formation at Pinus sylyestris and Gasteria verrucosa; and primuline-induced fluorescence of the first exine elements and ubisch bodies in Ipomoea and Lilium. The ultrastructural and chemical studies of pollen wall development in the Epacridaceae; the implications on the nature of sporopollenin based upon pollen development; and the production of sporopollenin by the Tapetom are also considered. The book further tackles the resistance and stratification of the exine; the preservation of sporopollenin membranes under natural conditions; and a paleobiological definition of sporopollenin. The text also encompasses the aspects of sporin on the aromatization of sporin and the hydrogen density of the sporin of carboniferous lycopsids; the chemistry of sporopollenin; and some chemical and geochemical studies on sporopollenin. The petrology and geochemistry of sporinite; the application of diagenesis of sporopollenin and other comparable organic substances to hydrocarbon research; and the thermal degradation of sporopollenin and the genesis of hydrocarbons are also looked into. Botanists and microbiologists will find the book invaluable.

  • Air Pollution

    Meteorology Division
    • 1st Edition
    • R. S. Scorer
    • R. S. Scorer
    • English
    Air Pollution presents the fundamental mechanisms whereby pollution is diffused and transported in the atmosphere. This book aims to provide practitioners a correct basis for their decisions. Organized into seven chapters, this book starts with an overview of the diurnal variation of heat received and lost by the ground under clear sky. This text then describes the concept and interesting effects of fumigation, which is the sudden increase in low level pollution in the morning. Other chapters examine the mechanism of high level inversions, which set a limit to the upward dispersal of pollution and influence the effects of large sources of pollution. This book discusses as well the effects caused by valleys and sloping ground in low level accumulation of pollution. The final chapter deals with the repercussions of air pollution on health and damage to materials. This book is a valuable resource for industrial engineers, environmentalists, and scientists.

  • Finite Element Simulation in Surface and Subsurface Hydrology

    • 1st Edition
    • George F. Pinder + 1 more
    • English
    Finite Element Simulation in Surface and Subsurface Hydrology provides an introduction to the finite element method and how the method is applied to problems in surface and subsurface hydrology. The book presents the basic concepts of the numerical methods and the finite element approach; applications to problems on groundwater flow and mass and energy transport; and applications to problems that involve surface water dynamics. Computational methods for the solution of differential equations; classification of partial differential equations; finite difference and weighted residual integral techniques; and The Galerkin finite element method are discussed as well. The text will be of value to engineers, hydrologists, and students in the field of engineering.

  • The Problems of Birds as Pests

    Proceedings of a Symposium Held at the Royal Geographical Society, London, on 28 and 29 September 1967
    • 1st Edition
    • R. K. Murton + 1 more
    • English
    The Problems of Birds as Pests covers the proceedings of the symposium held at the Royal Geographical Society in London on 28 and 29 September 1967. The text focuses on the problems posed by birds on agriculture and air transport, as well as control of population, scaring techniques, and warning systems. The selection first discusses prospective considerations concerning bio-acoustics in relation to bird-scaring techniques and recent developments in bird scaring on airfields. Topics include system of behavior and hierarchy of signals, informative content of acoustic signals, and signal-noise ratio. The book also ponders on bird recognition by radar and bird warning system for aircrafts in flight. The publication reviews the rook issue in North-East Scotland and the problems brought by the oystercatchers, including availability of field crops and their utilization by rooks, rook population, and food intake of the birds and comparison with stock and fishing levels. The manuscript then surveys predator-prey relationships in bird damage and population control and the quelea problem in Africa. The selection is a valuable source of information for ornithologists and readers interested in the characteristic of birds as pests.

  • Aeronomy

    • 1st Edition
    • P. M. Banks + 1 more
    • English
    Aeronomy, Part B discusses the scientific discipline devoted to the study of the composition, movement, and thermal balance of planetary atmospheres. The book presents the comprehensive exposition of the basic processes involved in the aeronomy of the earth’s upper atmosphere. It demonstrates the chemical, ionic reactions, and the different collisional interactions involving particles and radiation. The text describes the molecular diffusion and its effects in producing the transition from homogeneous molecular gases of lower atmosphere to the heterogeneous atomic and molecular gases of the upper atmosphere. It also discusses the simple models of the ionospheres. Another topic of interest is the calculations of atmospheric photoionization. The section that follows describes the satellite and external hyperbolic particles. The book will provide valuable insights for engineers, scientists, students, and researchers in the field of space science.

  • Glaciated Coasts

    • 1st Edition
    • Duncan M. Fitzgerald + 1 more
    • English
    Glaciated Coasts is a collection of articles that deals with shoreline morphologies of glaciated coasts and the processes that formed these coastlines in North America. This book examines nonsandy shorelines and covers a range of geologic and geographic coastal settings in a northern-southern order. This text investigates and compares the glaciated northern shorelines. These shorelines north of the glacial limit are mostly of the primary form in different stages of modification by marine agents. Shorelines are associated with embayments; baymouth barriers in turn enclose embayments. This book describes beaches as having coarse or mixed sediment populations. Most beaches worldwide have gravel clasts that have been rounded and sorted by marine processes. In the southeastern coast of Alaska, active tectonics on a mountainous shoreline is evident. The region also shows emergent and submerging shorelines with a glacial imprint undergoing formation by modern processes. This book also gives examples of gravel beach environments in various coastal settings. This book can prove useful for students of meteorology, oceanography as well as to marine ecologists and biologists. It can also benefit readers whose interest lie with coastal environment or with the general earth sciences.

  • Radiative Heat Exchange in the Atmosphere

    • 1st Edition
    • K. Ya. Kondrat'Yev
    • English
    Radiative Heat Exchange in the Atmosphere analyzes the concerns in thermal radiation and the radiation balance of the earth's surface and of the atmosphere. The text first covers the basic definitions and concepts, and then proceeds to discussing the development of basic theories of actinometric measurements of thermal radiation fluxes. Next, the selection deals with the absorption of long-wave radiation in the atmosphere. In the fourth chapter, the title covers the solution of the problem of radiative heat transfer in the atmosphere. Chapter 5 details the examination of the approximate methods of calculation of thermal radiation fluxes, while Chapter 6 discusses the problem of the atmosphere and the net radiation at the ground. The seventh chapter tackles the radiation balance, and the last chapter covers the features of the methods and the results of calculating temperature changes caused by radiation. The book will be of great use to researchers and practitioners of astrophysics and meteorology. Ecologists and other environmental scientist will also benefit from the text.

  • Methods of Celestial Mechanics

    • 1st Edition
    • Dirk Brouwer + 1 more
    • English
    Methods of Celestial Mechanics provides a comprehensive background of celestial mechanics for practical applications. Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy that is devoted to the motions of celestial bodies. This book is composed of 17 chapters, and begins with the concept of elliptic motion and its expansion. The subsequent chapters are devoted to other aspects of celestial mechanics, including gravity, numerical integration of orbit, stellar aberration, lunar theory, and celestial coordinates. Considerable chapters explore the principles and application of various mathematical methods. This book is of value to mathematicians, physicists, astronomers, and celestial researchers.

  • Optimal Seismic Deconvolution

    An Estimation-Based Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Jerry M. Mendel
    • English
    Optimal Seismic Deconvolution: An Estimation-Based Approach presents an approach to the problem of seismic deconvolution. It is meant for two different audiences: practitioners of recursive estimation theory and geophysical signal processors. The book opens with a chapter on elements of minimum-variance estimation that are essential for all later developments. Included is a derivation of the Kaiman filter and discussions of prediction and smoothing. Separate chapters follow on minimum-variance deconvolution; maximum-likelihood and maximum a posteriori estimation methods; the philosophy of maximum-likelihood deconvolution (MLD); and two detection procedures for determining the location parameters in the input sequence product model. Subsequent chapters deal with the problem of estimating the parameters of the source wavelet when everything else is assumed known a priori; estimation of statistical parameters when the source wavelet is known a priori; and a different block component method for simultaneously estimating all wavelet and statistical parameters, detecting input signal occurrence times, and deconvolving a seismic signal. The final chapter shows how to incorporate the simplest of all models—the normal incidence model—into the maximum-likelihood deconvolution procedure.

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