BOOK REVIEWS 581

depending on the temporal window that is chosen. The differ-ences between the two time-periods also highlight difficulties inthe display three-dimensional information in two dimensions:mapping spatial variability requires a statistical treatment oftemporal variability, and 6ice 6ersa. The trend maps in thisatlas are one way of approaching this problem and, as such,represent a useful quick reference.

Gridded time-series datasets such as the one described inthis book, however, are better suited to electronic media,either web-based or on CD-ROM, where users can define (andredefine) their own spatio-temporal display and analysis win-dows to suit specific objectives. It is unfortunate that theauthors did not take this approach in publishing their work,either by including a CD-ROM and visualisation softwarewith the book, or by developing a suitable web site. At a costof £69.00 this book is not on my shopping list, as I alreadyhave several similar and freely available datasets bookmarkedon my web-browser.

MARK NEW

Climatic Research UnitUni6ersity of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ

CLIMATES OF SOUTH ASIA, G.B. Pant and K. RupaKumar (eds), J. Wiley and Sons (Chichester), 1997. No. ofpages xxiii+320 pp. Price £75.00. ISBN 0-471-94948-5 (H/b)

The resurgence of interest in aspects of regional climatologyis evidenced by this text on one of the most fascinating regionsof the world—the Indian sub-continent. The book is anindirect result of an international conference held in India afew years ago. Whilst not a joint venture, its publication is anexample of encouragement and cooperation between aca-demics in India and the UK.

The text provides a timely update of a number of issuesassociated with the monsoon regime currently exercising theminds of climatologists. These include the likely impact of theENSO phenomenon on the monsoonal circulation.

The text is divided into two sections with the first beingdevoted to the meteorological background, including compo-nents of the circulation over the tropics. The opening section isless focused on the climate than on general physical features ofthe sub-continent. The reader must therefore wait until latersections for a description of the workings of the monsoons. Inthis sense, the text could profitably commence at section 1.4.Other sections in the early chapters cover the tropical generalcirculation, synoptic systems and the occurrence of fog, hazeand mist. Sometimes it is not entirely clear whether theauthors are referring to the global climate system or the SouthAsian component (as in parts of section 2.9). This may lead tosome confusion in the mind of the reader in discussions ofmeridional heat transport.

The arrangement of the material in this first section is fairlytraditional with similar treatment being found in comparabletexts. References are reasonably contemporary providing thereader with a feel for recent research. It is a pity that thesub-sections tend to be self contained without a great deal ofcross-reference between components of the system or otherparts of the book. Some evaluation of the significance of and

changing scientific interest in the individual components of themonsoon would be a welcome addition. For example section4.3.2 deals with the seasonal occurrence of tropical cyclonesbut it is not until the end of the section that mention is made,in passing, of the upper level flows and ENSO. Even then thereader is not informed about whether such features enhance ordepress tropical cyclogenesis.

The second section deals with the climatic characteristics ofthe South Asian monsoon. There are chapters on averageclimatic conditions with a plentiful supply of isothermal andisohyetal maps. Spatial and temporal variations in precipita-tion are treated in some detail including the results of principalcomponents analysis and low-frequency filtering of Indianrainfall data. Teleconnections with ENSO are also exploredtowards the end of this section. A less expansive chapter (7) ontemperature variability follows. Chapter 8 provides an interest-ing insight into some regional variations in rainfall and aridity.The results of recent analyses are included and are supportedby a wide variety of maps and diagrams though these couldbenefit from some standardisation in presentation.

The final chapter (9) of 14 pages may prove potentially to bethe most interesting for some readers where the possibleenvironmental impacts of the changing climate are addressed.However, much of the chapter is devoted to an historicalsurvey of the Holocene period. There are brief final sections oncontemporary climate change and modelling studies. There is adata appendix followed by an extensive bibliography.

Overall, the material is clearly presented and is most ade-quately supported by references and illustrations. It is clearlythe product of much research over a number of years and it ispleasing to see a well produced text appearing in the BelhavenClimatology Series. This text will undoubtedly serve as animportant reference source for climatologists and researchstudents well into the next millenium.

KEITH BOUCHER

Department of GeographyLoughborough Uni6ersity

Loughborough, Leicestershire LE 11 3TU

CLIMATES OF THE BRITISH ISLES: PRESENT, PASTAND FUTURE, M. Hulme and E. Barrow (eds), Routledge(London), 1997. No. of pages: xxxi+454. Price: £65.00 ISBN0415 13016 6 (h/b); £17.99 ISBN 0415 13017 4 (p/b).

This book celebrates a quarter of a century of the ClimaticResearch Unit (CRU), University of East Anglia. It is fondlydedicated to Professor H.H. Lamb, founding director of theUnit, who died in mid-1997. All but two of the 28 contributorshave some link with CRU and the 16 chapters spread overfour parts provide an excellent shop window for the Unit’swork over the past 25 years.

The editors freely admit that the title and structure of thebook closely follow those of Lamb’s Climate: Present, Pastand Future that appeared in two volumes in the 1970s. Fourparts include the British Isles climate, reconstructing the past,monitoring the present and forecasting the future. The firstpart gives a brisk run through some elements of the explana-tion of climate of the British Isles followed by a description of

© 1998 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 18: 579–582 (1998)

BOOK REVIEWS582

the surface climate. Clearly the editors chose to present thegeneral systematic processes leading to a particular manifesta-tion of surface climate in a specified area, rather than describ-ing the area’s climate and using the knowledge of processes toexplain it. Part 2 contains three chapters covering the recon-struction of past climates on time scales ranging from millionsto hundreds of years, stopping short of the instrumental periodwhich forms the introduction to the third and largest part ofthe book, concerned with monitoring the present. Seven chap-ters take the reader through weather types, temperature, pre-cipitation, wind and air quality, concluding with weatherrecords and extremes. Lamb’s famous classification forms thebasis of the treatment of weather types and the ‘centralEngland temperature’ record, produced by Manley (arguablyLamb’s mentor), is the vehicle for illustrating historical vari-ability of temperature and its relation to atmospheric circula-tion. Elements of the climatologies of precipitation and windfollow, with some emphasis on the impacts that variability andextremes have on human activity—a theme also taken up inthe chapter on air quality. The final chapter in this part couldwell prove to be the most popular in the book as it lists in somedetail the extremes of temperature, precipitation, wind and fogthat have occurred in the British Isles. The final part includesthree chapters on forecasting and global warming in thecontext of the British Isles.

As would be expected, and in keeping with the original aimsof CRU, the predominant flavour of the book is the quest toproduce firm knowledge of the surface climate of the BritishIsles in the past and present. The descriptors are traditionaland the upper air is largely ignored. The sources of informationare also largely the traditional, surface-based instruments ofthermometer and raingauge rather than, for example, satelliteand radar (although satellite photographs do appear in thebook). Atmospheric models and some of their basic equationsare covered in one chapter co-authored by one of the non-CRUcontributors. Given the aims of the Unit all this is perhaps tobe expected and the steady supply of external funding showsthat its products are highly valued on the global stage. Themajor strength of the book is the sheer amount of high qualityinformation on the spatial and temporal aspects of Britishclimate so lucidly presented. Whilst the photographs are a littledisappointing the line diagrams and coloured maps are clearand most informative. The authors note that the book is meantfor the non specialist and the style and level of writing fulfilthat aim. Readers looking for detailed and technical explana-tions of the many phenomena described here should lookelsewhere.

CRU has been a great success story and it is fitting tocelebrate it with this book. It is a handsomely producedtestament of the Unit’s work and will be a most usefulreference for many years to come.

B.W. ATKINSON

Queen Mary and Westfield CollegeUni6ersity of London, London E1 4NS

CLIMATE VARIABILITY, CLIMATE CHANGE AND SO-CIAL VULNERABILITY IN THE SEMI-ARID TROPICS.J.C. Ribot, A.R. Magalhaes and S.S. Panagides (eds.), Cam-bridge University Press (Cambridge), 1996. No. of pages:xiii+175. Price: £50.00, US$74.95. ISBN 0-521-48074-4(hardback).

This book was published in 1996 but arose from a conferenceheld in Brazil in January 1992, ahead of the United NationalConference on Environment and Development (UNCED) ofJune 1992. It is not, therefore, the place to look for the latestresearch on climatic change and most of its readers are likelyto be international development specialists. The emphasis isvery much on the socio-economic perspective and ‘SocialVulnerability to Climate Variability and Climate Change in theSemi-arid Tropics’ might have been a better title for the book.Many of the buzz words used, such as ‘vulnerability analysis’,‘empowerment’ and ‘enfranchizement’ are now standard to the‘development’ community. However, climatologists interestedin how research findings on climatic change might influencesocial and economic policy will find this book a useful contri-bution. At £55 for 175 pages, it is rather expensive for a privatepurchase but climatology libraries in organizations with aninterest in international development should purchase a copy.

The Introduction attempts to summarize the rather variablecontributions to the book, and the Overview gives a briefbackground to predictions of climate change and then consid-ers responses by planners, policy makers and farmers. Fourcase studies follow; on the effects of climate change in Mexico,the Sudano-Sahelian region of Africa, northern China andSouth Australia. The ‘Causality and Response’ section includesa rather too brief summary of Glantz’s ‘Drought follows thePlow’ hypothesis, a study of the population movements be-tween the dry north-east of Brazil and Amazonia, and asummary of policy initiatives in USA, Australia and SouthAfrica (most of which are not in the tropics).

There are a number of errors in the book. Three that wereparticularly noticeable were as follows: In the Preface, theFrench Development Institute ORSTOM is quoted as ‘theFrench Institute for Ultramarine Research’ whereas ‘outre mer’means ‘overseas’. In the Endnote on page 48 Meigs’ definitionof semi-arid areas should read ‘areas in which the ratio ofprecipitation to evapotranspiration falls between 20% and 40%’not ‘−20 and −40’. In Wang’ati’s case study of agriculturaldevelopment in Machakos district in Kenya (included as partof the Sudano-Sahel zone of Africa), tables 14–17 refer only toMachakos district, not to the whole of Kenya as suggested bythe titles.

The ‘Declaration of Fortaleza’ at the end of the book wasintended originally to alert the UNCED Conference to theneed for action in the semi-arid tropics to respond to climatechange. As such it seems rather dated, although given the lackof effective action since the UNCED Conference, its messageis still valid.

MIKE TUCKER

Natural Resources Institute,Uni6ersity of Greenwich

© 1998 Royal Meteorological Society Int. J. Climatol. 18: 579–582 (1998)