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  • © 2021

Fundamental Principles of Environmental Physics

  • Presents a thorough, interdisciplinary overview of environmental physics
  • Addresses everything from fundamental principles to mathematical formulations related to the topic
  • Develops a methodology to characterize the atmospheric surface layer, mass, and energy flow
  • Provides numerous solved examples, illustrations, and applications

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxiv
  2. General Characteristics of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 1-11
  3. Aerodynamic Characterization of the Surface Layer

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 13-32
  4. Characterization of Turbulent Flow in the Surface Boundary Layer

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 33-103
  5. Exchange of Energy and Mass Over Forest Canopies

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 105-132
  6. Flow Over Modified Surfaces

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 133-157
  7. Heat and Mass Transfer Processes

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 159-236
  8. Examples of Applications

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 237-266
  9. Fundamentals of Global Carbon Budgets and Climate Change

    • Abel Rodrigues, Raul Albuquerque Sardinha, Gabriel Pita
    Pages 267-308
  10. Back Matter

    Pages 309-372

About this book



This book is an interdisciplinary and accessible guide to environmental physics. It allows readers to gain a more complete understanding of physical process and their interaction with ecological ones underpin important environmental issues.


The book covers a wide range of topics within environmental physics, including:


• natural and anthropogenic canopies, including forests, urban or wavy terrains;
• the fundamentals of heat transfer;
• atmospheric flow dynamics;
• global carbon budget;
• climate change; and
• the relevance of biochar as a global carbon sink.


Including solved exercises, numerous illustrations and tables, as well as an entire chapter focused on applications, book is of interest to researchers, students and industrial engineers alike. 



Authors and Affiliations

  • UTI, Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, Oeiras, Portugal

    Abel Rodrigues

  • Carnaxide, Portugal

    Raul Albuquerque Sardinha

  • IST—Mechanical Engineering, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

    Gabriel Pita

About the authors

Abel Rodrigues gained his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, U. Lisbon), in 1994 and 2002, respectively. He was interim Forest Department Head from 2005 to 2011 at the Forestry Research Unit of the National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research, as well as Senior Researcher from 2002, where he developed research on atmospheric fluxes and on production and conversion of biomass from short rotation coppices. He authored and co-authored 72 scientific publications and 3 books. He has coordinated 20 projects multi-institutional research projects, co-supervised 13 M.Sc., 1 Ph.D. and 1 postdoctoral students.


Raúl Sardinha has a M.Sc. in Forestry from the School of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Lisbon (1962) and a Ph.D. in Wood Science from Oxford (1974). He was Full Professor at ISA (Un. Lisboa) and retired in 2002. Professor Sardinha directed the PortugueseNational Forest Research Station in 1988–1995, and headed the University of Madeira (1988–1993) and University Piaget in Guinea-Bissau (2010–2014). He was a member of the Board of the European Forest Institute (1993–1995) and represented Portugal in various international research organizations. He developed research on the properties and suitability of the use of forest products and on natural resources research policy for sustainable management in tropical countries. He has authored 85 scientific research papers and co-authored more than 120 more.


Gabriel Pita has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering/Applied Thermodynamics (1975) and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (1988), both from IST. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IST, where he teaches Applied Thermodynamics, Physical Ecology, and Mass and Energy Transfer. Professor Pita’s research has dealt with applied combustion, characterization of the impacts of droughts on Portuguese forests, and and analysis of carbon uptake and productivity in eucalypt plantations. He has co-authored 44 scientific research publications.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access