Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Climatology of the tropical atmosphere and upper oceans -- 2. Hydrological and heat exchange processes -- 3. Fundamental processes -- 4. Kinematics of equatorial waves -- 5. Fundamental prototypes of tropical systems -- 6. Equatorial waves in simple flows -- 7. Waves in a longitudinally and vertically varying flows -- 8. Moist processes and large-scale tropical dynamics -- 9. Extratropical influence on the tropics -- 10. Tropical influence on extratropics : a zonally averaged perspective -- 11. A tropical-extratropical synergy -- 12. Arid and desert climates -- 13. Near-equatorial precipitation -- 14. Large-scale, low-frequency coupled ocean-atmosphere systems -- 15. Intraseasonal variability in the tropical atmosphere -- 16. Dynamics of the large-scale monsoon -- 17. The coupled monsoon system -- 18. The changing tropics -- 19. Some concluding remarks

"This brief introduction to the climatology of the tropics identifies a number of phenomena that characterize the spatial and temporal variability of the tropical climate. Planetary scale circulations include Hadley-like circulations, the more zonal Walker systems, westerly ducts, tropical upper tropospheric troughs, quasi-biennial lower stratospheric oscillations and the monsoon systems. Each of these features is "planetary" in scale and oscillates on interannual time scales. Within these slowly varying features of the tropical atmosphere and ocean, there is a myriad of circulation features with higher frequency variability. These include the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), quasi-biweekly variability, easterly waves, tropical cyclones and depressions and a high amplitude diurnal cycle. These higher frequency scales of variability are not independent and are modulated by lower frequency events such as the MJO, which, in turn, is modulated by the annual cycle and interannual variability. In subsequent chapters we will clarify the underlying mechanisms of these circulation features and their roles in weather and climate"--