Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The atmospheric dynamics of deserts
- 3 The climates of the world deserts
- 4 Atmospheric and surface energy budgets of deserts
- 5 Surface physics of the unvegetated sandy desert landscape
- 6 Vegetation effects on desert surface physics
- 7 Substrate effects on desert surface physics
- 8 Desert-surface physical properties
- 9 Numerical modeling of desert atmospheres
- 10 Desert boundary layers
- 11 Desert microclimates
- 12 Dynamic interactions among desert microclimates
- 13 Desert rainfall
- 14 Anthropogenic effects on the desert atmosphere
- 15 Changes in desert climate
- 16 Severe weather in the desert
- 17 Effects of deserts on the global environment and other regional environments
- 18 Desertification
- 19 Biometeorology of humans in desert environments
- 20 Optical properties of desert atmospheres
- Appendix A Glossary of meteorological and land-surface terms
- Appendix B Abbreviations
- Appendix C Units, numerical constants, and conversion factors
- Appendix D Symbols
- Appendix E Maps of the world
- Hints to solving some problems and exercises
- References
- Index
- Plate section
- References
20 - Optical properties of desert atmospheres
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The atmospheric dynamics of deserts
- 3 The climates of the world deserts
- 4 Atmospheric and surface energy budgets of deserts
- 5 Surface physics of the unvegetated sandy desert landscape
- 6 Vegetation effects on desert surface physics
- 7 Substrate effects on desert surface physics
- 8 Desert-surface physical properties
- 9 Numerical modeling of desert atmospheres
- 10 Desert boundary layers
- 11 Desert microclimates
- 12 Dynamic interactions among desert microclimates
- 13 Desert rainfall
- 14 Anthropogenic effects on the desert atmosphere
- 15 Changes in desert climate
- 16 Severe weather in the desert
- 17 Effects of deserts on the global environment and other regional environments
- 18 Desertification
- 19 Biometeorology of humans in desert environments
- 20 Optical properties of desert atmospheres
- Appendix A Glossary of meteorological and land-surface terms
- Appendix B Abbreviations
- Appendix C Units, numerical constants, and conversion factors
- Appendix D Symbols
- Appendix E Maps of the world
- Hints to solving some problems and exercises
- References
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
About a desert sunset:
… I sat down and watched a sunset, which grew from grey to pink, and to red; and then to a crimson so intolerably deep that we held our breath in trepidation for some stroke of flame or thunder to break its dizzy stillness.
T. E. Lawrence, British writer and adventurer Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926)Then, after making our purchases, we say good-bye with wishes for safe passage. They go one way and we go the opposite. And our respective images begin to undulate. Soon their camels seem double because of the air. And they themselves, now elongated, now shortened, seem to have two heads apiece, like the kings and queens on decks of cards. Ten o'clock. Ten thirty. It was about this same time when the little fairyland lakes had begun to appear yesterday. Already a few materialize – so cool and so blue! – harbingers no doubt of a larger illusion to come. They still threaten to flood out and swamp you. But on the contrary when you get close – blink! Nothing. The lakes are swallowed by the arid sand or folded up like blue cloth. Then they dissolve rapidly and in silence, like the imagined things they are.
J. Viaud (P. Loti), French writer and adventurer Le Désert (1895)- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Desert Meteorology , pp. 519 - 526Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004