request feedback from students/instructors on textbook concept
 

If you are affiliated with a meteorology/atmospheric science department
at a college or university anywhere in the world, I would welcome your
responses to the following:

1) whether a course on Atmospheric Radiation is regularly offered at
your institution, either at the graduate or undergraduate level (if
your answer is "no", then you can disregard the remaining questions)

2) the typical yearly enrollment in the above course(s)

3) which textbook is currently used

4) whether the above textbook is widely viewed as effective from the
point of view of students learning about atmospheric radiation for the
first time

5) whether there would be interest in a new textbook that covers the
*essentials* of atmospheric radiation at a much more introductory level
than Liou, Thomas/Stamnes, etc., and with a special emphasis on clearly
communicating, in a logical, progressive sequence, "how radiation works"
to the majority of meteorology students who do not necessarily plan to
specialize in atmospheric radiation or remote sensing.

6) what features you would like to see in a new textbook that would make
it most attractive for use in an introductory course, either as a
required text or as supplemental reading

To put these questions in perspective, I am about 95% finished writing a
textbook entitled "A First Course In Atmospheric Radiation".
It will probably be available in paperback only and be about 400 pp. in
length. And it will definitely be less expensive than the vast majority
of meteorology textbooks currently available.

My goal is to produce a text that is highly readable and does not
overwhelm the non-specialist with a lot of arcane technical details
about computational methods, highly specialized applications, etc. For
example, the only mathematical solution to the radiative transfer
equation with scattering that is discussed in any detail is the
two-stream approximation.

The kind of answers I get to the above questions will help me decide how
many copies to have printed for the first run, as well as whether there
are last-minute adjustments to the format or subject matter that I
should consider. For example, will anyone care if it's not offered in a
hardback edition? Are there topics that you think should definitely be
included/excluded?

Right now, it looks like the book will go to press this Fall and be
available in time for the Spring Semester.

Although this message is intended only to get feedback and not to
solicit orders, I would be happy to add your e-mail address to my list
of those who wish to receive updates as the book nears publication.
Also, if you know the instructor of a radiation course who might be
interested in a new textbook, please consider forwarding this message to
him/her.

If you post your response to this newsgroup, I would appreciate it if
you could also cc a copy to .

thanks,

Grant Petty
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison