This book is the first comprehensive textbook at the graduate level encompassing all aspects associated with the emerging field of astrobiology. Volume I gathers a fist set of extensive lectures that cover a broad range of topics, from the formation of solar system to the quest for the most primitive life forms that emerged on the early Earth.
A brief historical overview -- The immediate past: A summary of the pre-desiccation state -- Present-day desiccation -- The future: What happens next? -- The Aral crisis in global perspective -- Concluding remarks.Physical Oceanography of the Dying Aral Sea describes the background, present crisis state, and possible future of this peculiar inland water body from the physical oceanographic stan…
Geologic evolution of the Canarian Islands of Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and La Gomera and comparison of landslides at these islands with those at Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro -- Salt Diapirs, Salt Brine Seeps, Pockmarks and Surficial Sediment Creep and Slides in the Canary Channel off NW Africa -- Comparison of volcanic rifts on La Palma and El Hierro, Canary Islands and the Is…
The Origins of Space Weather -- The Ionosphere -- Telecommunication Systems -- Prediction Services and Systems -- Research Activities and Programs -- Epilogue.This book is both a survey of practical concepts for forecasting the performance of various telecommunication systems as well as a balanced treatment of space-weather phenomena that give rise to telecommunication impairment episodes. It b…
Discovering Europa -- Water World -- Touring the surface -- Politics and intellect: Converting images into ideas and knowledge -- Tides -- Tides and resonance -- Tides and rotation -- Tides and stress -- Tidal heating -- Tides and orbital evolution -- Understanding Europa -- Global cracking and non-synchronous rotation -- Building ridges -- Dilation of cracks -- Strike-slip -- Return to Astypal…
Mud Volcanic Geology -- New Seismic Neogene Clay Diapirs and Hydrocarbon Implications in the North-Eastern African Margin of Tunisia -- Seismic Signature of Gas Hydrate and Mud Volcanoes of the South African Continental Margin -- Global Distribution of Mud Volcanoes and Their Significance in Petroleum Exploration as a Source of Methane in the Atmosphere and Hydrosphere and as a Geohazard -- Sty…
Motivation -- Fundamentals of potential theory -- Gravity field of the earth -- Gravity reduction -- Heights -- The geometry of the earth -- Gravity field outside the earth -- Space methods -- Modern views on the determination of the figure of the earth -- Statistical methods in physical geodesy -- Least-squares collocation -- Computational methods."Physical Geodesy" by Heiskanen and Moritz, pu…
Plio-Quaternary Magmatism in Italy: An Introductory Overview -- The Tuscany Province -- The Intra-Apennine Province -- The Roman Province -- The Ernici-Roccamonfina Province -- The Campania Province, Pontine Islands, and Mount Vulture -- The Aeolian arc -- The Sicily Province -- Sardinia and the Southern Tyrrhenian Sea -- Petrogenesis and Geodynamics in Italy.Central-Southern Italy and the Tyrr…
Preliminaries -- Scales, Tools and Reminiscences -- Observing Clouds and Their Optical Properties -- Fundamentals -- A Primer in 3D Radiative Transfer -- Numerical Methods -- Approximation Methods in Atmospheric 3D Radiative Transfer Part 1: Resolved Variability and Phenomenology -- Climate -- Approximation Methods in Atmospheric 3D Radiative Transfer Part 2: Unresolved Variability and Climate …
Solar Radiation in the Atmosphere -- Theoretical Base of Solar Irradiance and Radiance Calculation in the Earth Atmosphere -- Spectral Measurements of Solar Irradiance and Radiance in Clear and Cloudy Atmospheres -- The Problem of Retrieving Atmospheric Parameters from Radiative Observations -- Determination of Parameters of the Atmosphere and the Surface in a Clear Atmosphere -- Analytical Met…