Large-Scale Disasters Prediction, Control, and Mitigation

'Extreme' events - including climatic events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, drought - can cause massive disruption to society, including large death tolls and property damage in the billions of dollars. Events in recent years have shown the importance of being prepared and that countries need to work together to help alleviate the resulting pain and suffering. This volume presents an integrated review of the broad research field of large-scale disasters. It establishes a common framework for predicting, controlling and managing both manmade and natural disasters. There is a particular focus on events caused by weather and climate change. Other topics include air pollution, tsunamis, disaster modeling, the use of remote sensing and the logistics of disaster management. It will appeal to scientists, engineers, first responders and health-care professionals, in addition to graduate students and researchers who have an interest in the prediction, prevention or mitigation of large-scale disasters.

Preface M. Gad-el-Hak; 1. Introduction M. Gad-el-Hak; 2. The art and science of large-scale disasters M. Gad-el-Hak; 3. Multiscale modeling for large-scale disaster applications R. M. Pidaparti; 4. Addressing the root causes of large-scale disasters I. Kelman; 5. Issues in disaster-relief logistics N. Altay; 6. Large-scale disasters: perspectives on medical response J. Elkholy and M. Gad-el-hak; 7. Augmentation of health-care capacity in large-scale disasters A. M. Radwan; 8. Energy, climate change and how to avoid a manmade disaster A. F. Ghoniem; 9. Seawater agriculture for energy, warming, food, land and water D. M. Bushnell; 10. Natural and anthropogenic aerosol-related hazards affecting megacities H. El-Askary and M. Kafatos; 11. Tsunamis: Manifestation and aftermath H. J. S. Fernando, A. Braun, R. Galappatti, J. Ruwanpura and S. C. Wirasinghe; 12. Intermediate-scale dynamics of the upper troposphere and stratosphere J. J. Riley; 13. Coupled weather-chemistry modeling G. A. Grell; 14. Seasonal-to-decadal prediction using climate models: successes and challenges R. Saravanan; 15. Climate change and related disasters A. S. Zakey, F. Giorgi and J. Pal; 16. Impact of climate change on precipitation R. Rasmussen, A. Dai and K. E. Trenberth; 17. Weather-related disasters in arid lands T. T. Warner; 18. The first hundred years of numerical weather prediction J. Pudykiewicz and G. Brunet; 19. Fundamental issues in numerical weather prediction J. Dudhia; 20. Space measurements for disaster response: the International Charter A. Mahmood and M. Shokr; 21. Weather satellite measurements: their use for prediction W. L. Smith; Epilogue M. Gad-el-Hak; Index.

Mohamed Gad-el-Hak is currently the Inez Caudill Eminent Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Academy of Mechanics. In 1998, Professor Gad-el-Hak was named the Fourteenth ASME Freeman Scholar. In 1999, he was awarded the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Prize, Germany's highest research award for senior U.S. scientists and scholars in all disciplines. In 2002, he was named ASME Distinguished Lecturer, as well as inducted into the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars.