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1986 Bulletin of The American Meteorological Society - (BAMS)  
for Micrometeorology, Fritschen and Gay's (1979) Environmental Instrumentation, or a collection of manufacturer's brochures. Nevertheless, I welcome Boyd's text and recommend it to experimental meteorologists and instrumentation specialists as a clear and concise treatment of the background of radiometry. Anyone whose optical physics is a bit rusty can profit from the consistent review of topics relevant to radiometry, collected in one place. Professors can view the text as excellent teaching
more » ... terial if the backgrounds and needs of their students coincide with the strengths of the book, although I expect the text will be used in physics or optics courses rather than in atmospheric-sciences departments. At a minimum, the text should be available to students in instrumentation courses to give them an appreciation for the underlying physics of the devices they are likely to use. Meteorological research employing radiometry will be strengthened if we practitioners use carefully the analysis of detector noise, and improvements in instrumentation could result from thoughtful study of the basics that Boyd presents.-Ron Schwiesow
doi:10.1175/1520-0477-67.2.202 fatcat:r63z7yz6rnd6ffdbu5ojdkopcy