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Climates of northern and eastern Asia—World survey of climatology, 8
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands
Book Reviews Climates of Northern and Eastern Asia--WorM Survey of Climatology, 8. H. ARAKAWA (Editor). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1969, 248 pp., Dfl. 95.--. This eighth volume in the Worm Survey of Climatology series is one of two volumes dealing with the climate of Asia. The title of the volume is misleading in that Northern Asia includes Siberia, the climate of which is not treated in this volume. It is an attractively produced volume with some comprehensive articles and valuable summaries of data not generally accessible. The first and largest chapter on the climate of China and Korea, consisting of 71 pages and 43 pages of tables, is perhaps the most important. It is written in a very readable and interesting manner and includes an extensive and particularly useful list of references. Although the paucity of data was a handicap, those available have been used most advantageously to give a reasonably comprehensive picture of the climate of the area. It is striking how few data there are for the vast area of China and that few of the figures summarized refer to the years since 1950. One feels that such detailed climatographies as Lu's (p. 52) are difficult to justify in the circumstances. However, the treatment has the merit of being thorough and the book does present the alternative treatments due to K6ppen, De Martonne, Sion, Chu, Thornwaite and Chen, as well as Lu's. It is inevitable that the chapters are of unequal length: one expects China and Korea to require more space than Japan but the Japanese article is too compressed in comparison with the others and in fact might only be considered as an introduction to the large amount of literature on the subject. The full and comprehensive chapter on the climate of the Philippines indicates what could and perhaps should have been done for Japan. The chapter on Indonesia contains only limited data and statistics for 19311960, ranging for periods from 8 to 30 years. Although perhaps this was due to a wish to use as recent data as possible and in the main to base the survey on data for 1931-1960, surely there was a strong case for including or making reference to the excellent and long-term data, some of which extend for over 100 years, published in earlier years. The Indonesian statistics incidentally include nothing on thunderstorms, the frequency of which in Java is probably the highest in the world. The climatic tables which occupy more than one third of the book give, with the possible exception of those for Indonesia, a fairly complete coverage of the area in so far as records are available. They give in standard format monthly and annual means and extremes of temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, sunshine and cloudiness, together with rainfall and evaporation and frequencies of rain days, thunderstorms, fog, gales and sandstorms. These should prove an invaluable source of reference to all those interested in the climate of Asia.
Palaeogeography, PalaeoclimatoL,Palaeoecol., 11 (1972) 65-76
66
BOOK REVIEWS
The printing, layout and editing of the volume are generally of a very high standard. It is hence all the more remarkable that an error such as the transposition of the climatic classification maps of K r p p e n and De Martonne on pages 44 and 47 should have been allowed to slip through the editing process. W. H. WANN (Dublin)
Climates of Northern and Western Europe--WorM Survey of Climatology, 5. C. C. WALL~N (Editor). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1970, 253 pp., 60 fig., 101 tables, Dfl. 110,--. This work is the filth volume of a series of 15 volumes constituting a whole entitled "World Survey of Climatology", issued on the responsibility of the Editorin-Chief, Prof. H. E. Landsberg, University of Maryland, College Park, Md, U.S.A. The essential aim of this volume is to fill in a gap existing in the literature concerning the climate of Northern and Western Europe. It can be considered as a synthesis of our various knowledge of European climate and it gives a comprehensive review of the different climates of the area covered. This work consists of 5 chapters based on recent climatological data, treated by climatologists from various European meteorological centers. In the introduction, C. C. Wallrn describes the principal meteorological parameters which characterize the European climate: radiation, temperature, precipitation, snow cover. On the other hand, he studies the thermic balance of maritime circulation and general atmospheric circulation during the seasons, taking as a basis synoptic maps established at the 500 mbar level and comparing zonal indices of circulation. The normal distributions of temperature and precipitation are described according to different types of circulation. Chapter 2 (Thor Werner Johannessen) is devoted to the climate in Scandinavia which is principally governed by a west to southwest regime, dependent upon the circulation caused by the Iceland depression. The author describes the principal climatic types and gives valuable indications as regards the principal climatic elements of this region. Numerical values of these elements are indicated in tables and the repartition during the different seasons is indicated on maps. A paragraph is reserved for hydrological problems, particularly the evapotranspiration and the hydric balance, and another paragraph deals with climatic fluctuations. The climate of the British Isles is examined in chapter III (Gordon Manley). After recalling the history of the studies concerning the British climate, the author makes a criticism of climatological observations, and describes the characteristics of the principal air masses which have an influence on the weather and on the climate of these regions. The second part of this chapter is devoted to the ex-
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatol.,Palaeoecol., 11 (1972) 65-76
Book Reviews Climates of Northern and Eastern Asia--WorM Survey of Climatology, 8. H. ARAKAWA (Editor). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1969, 248 pp., Dfl. 95.--. This eighth volume in the Worm Survey of Climatology series is one of two volumes dealing with the climate of Asia. The title of the volume is misleading in that Northern Asia includes Siberia, the climate of which is not treated in this volume. It is an attractively produced volume with some comprehensive articles and valuable summaries of data not generally accessible. The first and largest chapter on the climate of China and Korea, consisting of 71 pages and 43 pages of tables, is perhaps the most important. It is written in a very readable and interesting manner and includes an extensive and particularly useful list of references. Although the paucity of data was a handicap, those available have been used most advantageously to give a reasonably comprehensive picture of the climate of the area. It is striking how few data there are for the vast area of China and that few of the figures summarized refer to the years since 1950. One feels that such detailed climatographies as Lu's (p. 52) are difficult to justify in the circumstances. However, the treatment has the merit of being thorough and the book does present the alternative treatments due to K6ppen, De Martonne, Sion, Chu, Thornwaite and Chen, as well as Lu's. It is inevitable that the chapters are of unequal length: one expects China and Korea to require more space than Japan but the Japanese article is too compressed in comparison with the others and in fact might only be considered as an introduction to the large amount of literature on the subject. The full and comprehensive chapter on the climate of the Philippines indicates what could and perhaps should have been done for Japan. The chapter on Indonesia contains only limited data and statistics for 19311960, ranging for periods from 8 to 30 years. Although perhaps this was due to a wish to use as recent data as possible and in the main to base the survey on data for 1931-1960, surely there was a strong case for including or making reference to the excellent and long-term data, some of which extend for over 100 years, published in earlier years. The Indonesian statistics incidentally include nothing on thunderstorms, the frequency of which in Java is probably the highest in the world. The climatic tables which occupy more than one third of the book give, with the possible exception of those for Indonesia, a fairly complete coverage of the area in so far as records are available. They give in standard format monthly and annual means and extremes of temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, sunshine and cloudiness, together with rainfall and evaporation and frequencies of rain days, thunderstorms, fog, gales and sandstorms. These should prove an invaluable source of reference to all those interested in the climate of Asia.
Palaeogeography, PalaeoclimatoL,Palaeoecol., 11 (1972) 65-76
66
BOOK REVIEWS
The printing, layout and editing of the volume are generally of a very high standard. It is hence all the more remarkable that an error such as the transposition of the climatic classification maps of K r p p e n and De Martonne on pages 44 and 47 should have been allowed to slip through the editing process. W. H. WANN (Dublin)
Climates of Northern and Western Europe--WorM Survey of Climatology, 5. C. C. WALL~N (Editor). Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1970, 253 pp., 60 fig., 101 tables, Dfl. 110,--. This work is the filth volume of a series of 15 volumes constituting a whole entitled "World Survey of Climatology", issued on the responsibility of the Editorin-Chief, Prof. H. E. Landsberg, University of Maryland, College Park, Md, U.S.A. The essential aim of this volume is to fill in a gap existing in the literature concerning the climate of Northern and Western Europe. It can be considered as a synthesis of our various knowledge of European climate and it gives a comprehensive review of the different climates of the area covered. This work consists of 5 chapters based on recent climatological data, treated by climatologists from various European meteorological centers. In the introduction, C. C. Wallrn describes the principal meteorological parameters which characterize the European climate: radiation, temperature, precipitation, snow cover. On the other hand, he studies the thermic balance of maritime circulation and general atmospheric circulation during the seasons, taking as a basis synoptic maps established at the 500 mbar level and comparing zonal indices of circulation. The normal distributions of temperature and precipitation are described according to different types of circulation. Chapter 2 (Thor Werner Johannessen) is devoted to the climate in Scandinavia which is principally governed by a west to southwest regime, dependent upon the circulation caused by the Iceland depression. The author describes the principal climatic types and gives valuable indications as regards the principal climatic elements of this region. Numerical values of these elements are indicated in tables and the repartition during the different seasons is indicated on maps. A paragraph is reserved for hydrological problems, particularly the evapotranspiration and the hydric balance, and another paragraph deals with climatic fluctuations. The climate of the British Isles is examined in chapter III (Gordon Manley). After recalling the history of the studies concerning the British climate, the author makes a criticism of climatological observations, and describes the characteristics of the principal air masses which have an influence on the weather and on the climate of these regions. The second part of this chapter is devoted to the ex-
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatol.,Palaeoecol., 11 (1972) 65-76