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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2009

J. T. Kiehl
Affiliation:
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
V. Ramanathan
Affiliation:
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
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Summary

In a career that spans over four decades, Robert D. Cess has pioneered the study of diverse topics and disciplines. He first attacked problems dealing with conductive, convective, and radiative heat transfer in engineering systems and his contribution to these topics culminated in a classic text book on radiative transfer. The hallmark of this early work is the successful application of singular peturbation techniques to solve complex radiative heat transfer problems. His intellectual curiosity took him to the study of thermal structure of planetary atmospheres. He is one of the very select few (if not the only one) who has solved the thermal structure of almost all of the inner and outer planets of the solar system including Mercury, Mars, Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and others, including study of the satellites. He was probably the first to obtain an analytical solution for the radiative-convective equilibrium-temperature structure of the troposphere-stratosphere of Mars and Venus.

The latter part of his career has been focused exclusively on Earth, where he has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the physics of climate with a particular focus on processes that regulate the Earth's radiation budget and the mechanisms of cloud feedback processes. He obtained worldwide recognition for a comprehensive comparative study of the nature of water-vapor and cloud feedback processes of over 15 three-dimensional climate models, and brilliantly demonstrated that cloud feedback is the major source for the wide range in climate sensitivity of climate models.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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  • Preface
  • Edited by J. T. Kiehl, V. Ramanathan
  • Book: Frontiers of Climate Modeling
  • Online publication: 12 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535857.001
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  • Preface
  • Edited by J. T. Kiehl, V. Ramanathan
  • Book: Frontiers of Climate Modeling
  • Online publication: 12 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535857.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Edited by J. T. Kiehl, V. Ramanathan
  • Book: Frontiers of Climate Modeling
  • Online publication: 12 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511535857.001
Available formats
×