Introduces the methods of synoptic climatology (the spatial analysis of climates) and shows its vital importance in the understanding of environmental systems. Constructed around five environmental scenarios: tropospheric ozone concentration, surface wind flows, regional hydrology, local hydrology and acid rain. Applies five sets of analytical methods for each scenario: correlation-based map classification, subjective map interpretation, subjective circulation indices, eigenvector-based map classification and air-mass-based synoptic climatologies. This is a richly illustrated text which uses real observational data as examples.

Brent Yarnal is an Associate Professor of Geography and Associate of the Earth System Science Center at The Pennsylvania State University. He received his graduate training at the University of Calgary (M.Sc., Geography) and Simon Fraser University (Ph.D., Geography). His research and teaching interests include climatic change and variability, global climate systems and the human dimensions of global environmental change.