Rasmussen E.A., Turner J. (eds.) Polar lows: Mesoscale weather systems in the polar regions

Cambridge University Press, 2003. — 612 p.Polar Lows provides a comprehensive review of our understanding of the small, high latitude weather systems known as polar lows. These often vigorous depressions are a hazard to maritime operations and high latitude communities, yet have only been investigated in detail since the 1960s. In this volume the authors describe the climatological distribution of these lows, the observational investigations into their structure, the operational forecasting of polar lows and the theoretical research into why they develop. They also discuss the experiments carried out with high resolution numerical weather forecast models that have demonstrated how some polar lows can be predicted a day or more in advance. The book has been written by a number of experts within the field and has been carefully edited to form an integrated, cohesive volume. It will be of value to meteorologists and climatologists with an interest in the polar regions, as well as professional weather forecasters concerned with these areas. It may also be used as a supplementary text on graduate courses concerned with high latitude geography, meteorology, and climatology.List of contributorsClimatology
Observational studies
Theoretical investigations
Numerical simulation
Forecasting of polar lows
Conclusions and future research needs