First published in 1972, this first volume of Professor Lamb's study of our changing climate deals with the fundamentals of climate and climatology, as well as providing global data on the contemporary climates of the twentieth century.
Part I: Fundamentals
1. Concepts and Definitions: the Weather, the Atmosphere and the Sun
2. Radiation and the Earth's Heat Supply
3. The Atmosphere in Motion
4. Seasonal Changes
5. The Stratosphere
6. Cyclic and Quasi-Periodic Phenomena
7. Anomalous Patterns of Atmospheric Circulation, Weather and Climate
8. The Oceans
9. The Water Cycle
10. Some Observed Causes of Climactic Variation
11. Observational Reference Data and Classification of Climates
"Professor Lamb has indeed served us well, in a complex field of study of the utmost significance to mankind"
– The Times Higher Education Supplement
"Destined to become one of the classics of climatology"
– Geographical Magazine
"Professor Lamb is to be congratulated on producing such an informative book, one which is almost certainly destined to become a classic synthesis of our present understanding of physical and dynamical climatology."
– Times Literary Supplement