Reviews

Micrometeomlogy. By 0. G. Sutton. New York (McGraw-Hill), 1953. Pp. xii, 333; 35 Figs., 30 tables.
61s.
For many years the only substantial text-book of micrometeorology has been Geiger's famous Das
K l i m ~der bodennahen Luftschicht and, as the title implies, the strength of that work lies in description rather
than explanation. Professor Sutton's book is subtitled ' A study of physical processes in the lowest layers of
the earth's atmosphere ' ; it concentrates on those aspects on which Geiger ' is weakest and does not attempt
to compete with it in descriptive detail. The preface says ' the subject matter and treatment are mainly of
postgraduate level ' but it is not likely that a second- or third-year student of physics or mathematics in a
British university would find any difficulty in following the arguments, since the first three chapters, one
third of the book, are a lucid development of the essential hydrostatics and hydrodynamics from elementary
considerations, and much of the fourth chapter is an introduction to heat-transfer theory. The fifth chapter
is concerned with the role of solar and atmospheric radiation in micrometeorology, and in the three subsequent
chapters the temperature field, wind structure, and diffusion (including natural evaporation) are discussed.
The treatment is theoretica1,'but Professor Sutton eschews the display of mathematics for its own sake.
T o quote the final phrase of the book, micrometeorology is a ' subject in which much remains obscure.'
It is also a subject in which it is imperative that we should be able to make predictions, for in widely different
technical fields, in peace as in war, processes in the lower atmosphere are becoming quite literally matters of
life and death. The merit of the methods described in this book is that they allow predictions which are
often astonishingly accurate, and which can as yet be made in no other way, but it cannot be denied that
more often than not they offer empiricism and artifice rather than true understanding, a technique rather
than a science. The book sets out authoritatively the present position of the subject, and does not seek too
obviously to undermine that position: according to temperament and training the reader may applaud or
deplore.
The book is well produced in the manner expected of its publishers, but the text is not free from minor
blemishes. ' Her Britannic Majesty's Stationary Office ' may be a misprint or a heartcry; a slip on p. 207
in a discussion of temperature profiles might be more misleading.
G.D.R.

The theory of homogeneous turbulence. By G . K. Batchelor. Cambridge Monographs on Mechanics

and Applied Mathematics. Cambridge University Press, 1953. Pp. xi, 197; 28 Figs. 25s.
According to a statement on the wrapper, this book is the first of a new series edited by G. K. Batchelor
and H. Bondi. Other volumes planned, or in preparation, will deal with turbulent shear flow, hydrodynamic
stability, wave mechanics and sound.
Dr. Batchelor's expositions of recent aspects of turbulence theory are well known and in the pages of
our Journal are to be found some interesting applications of these ideas to the difficult problem of atmospheric
turbulence. Although the present book has no direct application to the problems of the atmosphere, it
represents a contribution to knowledge which cannot be ignored by the meteorologist. The great complexity
of the atmospheric problem has made the semi-empirical approach unavoidable in most instances, but if
progress is to continue, a more exact analysis is essential. Such rational treatment is possible at present
only if severe restrictions are laid down at the start, and this book is an account of investigations in a very
limited field.
Homogeneous turbulence is a mathematical abstraction, an idealization of the type of fluid motion with
which we are familiar in the atmosphere or in the laboratory. Dr. Batchelor defines homogeneous turbulence
as ' a random motion whose average properties are independent of position in the fluid.' No such motion
is known in nature or can be produced in a wind-tunnel, but the state can be approached in experimental
arrangements, a fact which allows the consequences of the mathematical study to be examined by physicists.
It is generally accepted that all types of fluid motion are subject to the Navier-Stokes equations of motion
and the equation of continuity so that, in theory, velocity and pressure in an incompressible fluid can be
determined at all points and for all time in any system for which the requisite initial and boundary conditions
are known. It is equally well known that exact solutions can be found in a few, relatively simple, cases only,
mainly because of the non-linearity of the equations of motion.
There have been many attempts to construct a rational theory of turbulence by the study of perturbations
of one or other of the simple soluble motions, but the present book approaches the matter differently. In brief,
it is supposed that the initial turbulent state is known statistically, that is, at some given instant the velocity
of the infinite fluid, although ' random,' is described by probability laws which are independent of position.
The problem then is to determine the probability laws which govern the motion at any later time. In this
respect, as the author points out, the subject is very like statistical mechanics, the main difference being that
statistical mechanics deals with s w m s of particles subject to collision laws and homogeneous turbulence
with a continuum subject to certain differential equations, that is, to a complicated balance in which the
tendency of inertia (mass) to enhance non-uniformity is to some extent opposed by the smoothing action of
viscosity.
Stated in this way, homogeneous turbulence is almost a branch of ' pure ' mathematics, but one of the
most attractive features of the book is the skilful way in which Dr. Batchelor has blended the analytical
and experimental approaches. The opening chapters contain a difficult but clear and critical discussion

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