Subject Guide for Climate and Weather
- Introduction
- Glossaries & Dictionaries
- Encyclopedias & Handbooks
- Finding Books
- Finding Articles
- Climate and Weather Data
- Current Weather Conditions
- Extreme Weather Phenomena
- Maps & Atlases
- Other Web Resources
Introduction
What is the difference between climate and weather? Climate is the historical record and description of meteorological conditions (temperature, rain, wind, sun) in a particular geographic area. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a specific time. Meteorology is the science and study of the atmosphere and climatology is the study of the climate.
Glossaries and Dictionaries
Climate and Weather Terms Glossary. Western Regional Climate Center.
Brief definitions of terms.
Dictionary of Weather. 2001.
QC 854 .D86 2001 Reference
Includes "terms that are of use to students, amateur meteorologists and the general public." --from the Preface
Facts on File Dictionary of Weather and Climate. 2001.
QC 854 .F33 2001 Reference
Contains over 2,000 terms of use to students of meteorology and climatology.
Glossary of Climatology/Climate Data Terms. LTER Network.
Brief definition of terms
Glossary of Meteorology.
American Meteorological Society. 2000.
QC 854 .G55 2000 Reference
Brief definition of terms.
Glossary of Meteorological Terms in English and Russian. National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Brief definition of terms.
Weather Glossary. Weather Channel.
Brief definition of terms
Encyclopedias & Handbooks
Encyclopedia of Air. 2003.
QC 854 .N48 2003 Reference
A one volume encyclopedia that "outlines some of the basic facts about the composition and properties of air, and it pays special attention to a variety of topics in the science of meteorology." --from the Introduction
Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather. 1996.
QC 854 .E523 1996 Reference
Topics "cover a wide range of disciplines that are directly concerned with weather, that are affected by weather, or that have some strong interest in the elements." --from the Preface
Encyclopedia of Climatology. 1987.
QC 854 .E525 1987 Reference
This is volume XI of the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences and provides an in-depth discussion of concepts.
Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate. 2 vols. 2002.
QC 854 .A45 2002 Reference
Contains nearly 3,000 entries on how the atmosphere works and how weather is produced.
A Field Guide to the Atmosphere. 1981.
QC 863 .S346 Reference
Provides explanations and pictures of visible phenomenon such as rainbows, clouds, blue lunar halos and more.
World Survey of Climatology. 16 vols.
QC 981 .W67 Reference
A comprehensive discussion of climate worldwide.
Finding Books
General tips
Search board and narrow subject headings and geographic headings. For example, information about rainfall in California can be found under:
Rain and rainfall--California |
United States--Climate |
Suggested LC Subject Headings
Climatology Meteorology Geographic area--Climate--format formats include: |
Atmosphere |
Finding Articles
Climatology and meteorology are included in a wide variety of specialized databases and indexes.
AGRIcola. USDA National Agricultural Library (NAL). 1979 to the present.
The "Online Public Access Catalog" contains records on NAL books, audiovisual materials, etc., from 1970 to the present. The "Articles, etc." database contains citations for journal articles, reports, and book chapters.
Applied Science and Technology Abstracts. 1984 to the present.
Index to articles, product reviews, interviews, and book reviews in scholarly and trade journals covering areas such as engineering, computers, materials, electronics, and photography.
Geography. 1990 to the present.
An index to the international literature of geography, covering 2,000 primary journals, books, reports and theses. It includes records published in Geographical Abstracts (both Physical and Human )and International Development Abstracts.
GeoRef. 1933 to present.
The most comprehensive database of bibliographic information in the geosciences. Established by the American Geological Institute, it provides access to over 1.8 million references to articles, books, maps, conference papers, reports, and theses, covering the geology of North America from 1785 to the present and the geology of the rest of the world.
Meteorological and Geoastrophysical Abstracts. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1960-1977, 1979-1992.
QC 851 .A62 Compact Shelving Journals
Published by the American Meteorological Society, this has worldwide coverage of subjects such as weather forecasting, atmospheric disturbance, wind phenomena, etc.
Physics Abstracts. London: Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1941 to the present.
QC 1 .P56 (1986 & newer: 1st Floor Periodicals; 1985 & older: 5th Floor Periodicals)
Section 92 covers hydrospheric and atmospheric sciences which includes lengthy lists of meteorological and climatological references.
Water and Climate Bibliography. Pacific Institute.
"
This Bibliography is a comprehensive database of scientific literature pertaining to climate change and freshwater resources worldwide. The current version contains 3600 entries, and we anticipate updating the database on a regular basis. Abstracts are searched and displayed where available." --from the Web site
Web of Science. 1933 to present.
A multidisciplinary database that indexes major journals over a wide range of subject areas. Provides links to articles in electronic journals licensed by the SDSU Library. A special feature is citation indexing, which allows the user to trace research articles forward in time. 1999 to present.
Climate and Weather Data
Use the Subject Guide for Finding Climatic Data to quickly locate air quality, precipitation, skycover, snowpack, sunshine, temperature, visibility and wind data by day, month and year.
U.S. Climate at a Glance.
View temperature and precipitation data at the city, state, regional and national level. Data can be viewed as a line graph, bar chart or table.
National Climatic Data Center.
"The world's largest active archive of weather data." --from the Web site
A general discussion of California climate can be found in:
California's Many Climates. 1965.
QC 984 .C2 F4 Reference and 5th Floor Books
A comprehensive and authoritative description of California's weather and climate.
The Climate of Southern California. 1966.
QC 984 .C2 B3 Reference and 5th Floor Books
Covers the weather and climate of California south of the 35th parallel.
Current Weather Conditions
National Weather Service. NOAA.
Extreme Weather Phenomena
Earth Almanac: An Annual Geophysical Review of the State of the Planet. 2002.
GE140 .G64 2002 Reference
Includes sections on major weather-related events.
Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Cyclones. 1998.
QC 944 .L66 1998 Reference
This one volume encyclopedia includes the science, history and culture of tropical storms.
Extreme Weather: A Guide & Record Book. 2004.
QC 983 .B78 2004 Reference
Extreme Weather and Climate Events. National Climatic Data Center. NOAA.
Includes images, maps and data for hurricanes, heavy precipitation, droughts, tornadoes, El Niño and more.
Storms in San Diego County. Dept. of Sanitation Flood Control. County of San Diego.
QC 925.1 .U8C2 1974 Reference
Includes data from the 8 largest storms between 1906 and 1969.
Weather Almanac [e-book]. 2004.
"Contains information on all types of weather and weather-related phenomenon." --from the Introduction
Weather Handbook: A Summary of Climatic Conditions and Weather Phenomena for Selected Cities in the United States and Around the World. 1990.
QC 982 .W38 1990 Reference
Includes a section covering major weather-related disasters.
Maps & Atlases
California Climate Zone Map. California Energy Commission.
Also includes a climate zones areas by city, towns and other locations.
Climatic Atlas of the United States. 1978.
C 55.22:C 61 Gov Pubs/Oversize
This atlas is replaced by the Climate Atlas of the United States on cd-rom (see next entry).
Climate Atlas of the United States [cd-rom] . 2002.
C 55.281/2-2:C 61/CD/2002 Media Center/US
"[C]contains 2023 color maps of climatic elements such as temperature, precipitation, snow, wind, pressure, etc., chosen to portray the climate of the US. The period of record of the data for most of the maps is 1961-1990. " --from the CD-ROM
Daily Weather Maps. NOAA.
"Surface Weather Map, the 500-Millibar Height Contours chart, the Highest and Lowest Temperatures chart, and the Precipitation Areas and Amounts chart. For each day, simple charts are arranged on a single page. These charts are the surface analysis of pressure and fronts, color shading, in ten degree intervals,of maximum and minimum temperature, 500-Millibar height contours, and color shaded 24-hour total precipitation. These charts act as links to their respective Daily Weather Map charts." --from the Web site
Rainfall Maps from DWR/CNRFC. California Dept. of Water Resources.
Includes small scale and detailed regional maps or rainfall in California.
U.S. Climate at a Glance. National Climatic Data Center.
U.S. temperature and precipitation maps for any past month and year.
Weather Map Sites. Map Collection. Perry-Castañeda Library. University of Texas.
A comprehensive list of weather maps available on the Internet.
Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States. Pacific Northwest Laboratory. U.S. Dept. of Energy.
Other Web Resources
The Weather Page. NOAA.
Lists dozens of important meteorological WWW sites, gopher and ftp resources.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Home Page
Provides virtual tour of NOAA, plus lots links to data collected by NOAA.
