Improving the reliability of long-range forecasts of natural disasters,
such as severe weather, droughts and floods, in North America, South
America, Africa and the Asian/Australasian monsoon regions is of vital
importance to the livelihood of millions of people who are affected by
these events. In recent years the significance of major short-term
climatic variability, and events such as the El Nino/Southern
Oscillation in the Pacific, with its worldwide effect on rainfall
patterns, has been all to clearly demonstrated. Understanding and
predicting the intra-seasonal variability (ISV) of the ocean and
atmosphere is crucial to improving long range environmental forecasts
and the reliability of climate change projects through climate models.
In the second edition of this classic book on the subject, the authors
have updated the original chapters, where appropriate, and added a new
chapter that includes short subjects representing substantial new
development in ISV research since the publication of the first edition.