M. A. K. Khalil

Global Climate Change and Human Life (eBook, PDF)

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

In our time, the global population has become large enough to cause perceptible environmental changes all over the world. With it, a new science of global change has emerged, mostly as a practical matter to understand and manage the earth's habitability and create a sustainable environment for some time to come - one which balances the benefits of technological and societal advances with their potential, less desirable side effects. These concerns began with the depletion of the ozone layer and its possible adverse consequences on human health, and have, in recent decades, shifted to climate change driven by ongoing global warming.

Why are these global changes occurring? How will they affect our lives? If we find the effects undesirable, what should we do? This book will attempt to answer these questions. It will show how to accomplish the goal of managing our climate, what it will take, and when it needs to be done. Such a management process has to be dynamic, making it more complex and less didactic, requiring changes in strategy to achieve a longer-term goal as our knowledge advances.

Global Climate Change and Human Life is a comprehensive and cohesive look at the emerging field of global change science. Using models that take the theoretical or conceptual understanding and translate them into mathematical forms, the book lays out a holistic view of the science that develops and teaches the main principles, concepts and conclusions. In the end, readers will be empowered to use science and the scientific method to decide how important and timely climate change is as a social issue and which solutions can succeed.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Juni 2022
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781118526156
• Artikelnr.: 64138760

Autorenporträt

About the Author

M. A. K. Khalil is Professor of Physics at Portland State University, USA. He holds BA degrees in Mathematics and Psychology and a Bachelor of Physics degree from the University of Minnesota; MS in Physics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute; PhD in Theoretical Physics from the Center For Particle Theory, University of Texas, and a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from OGC, now Oregon Health and Sciences University. He has published more than 200 papers in the environmental sciences and theoretical physics, and was named one of the world's most highly cited authors by ISI.

Inhaltsangabe

Preface ix

About the Companion Website xi

1 Introduction 1

1.1 What Is Global Change Science? 1

1.2 Current Global Change 2

1.3 Raising Fundamental Questions 2

Endnotes 3

2 The Framework 5

2.1 The System 5

2.2 Scales of Action 5

2.3 What Determines Climate? 8

2.4 The Benchmark Average Climate 12

2.5 Irreducible Uncertainties 15

2.6 The Plan 16

Review of the Main Points 18

3 Atmospheric Composition 19

3.1 Trace Gases and Their Roles in Climate and the Environment 19

3.2 Quantifying the Atmospheric Composition 22

Review of the Main Points 27

Endnotes 29

4 Mass Balance Theory and Small Models 33

4.1 The Components 33

4.2 Global 35

4.3 Hemispherical and Horizontal 40

4.4 Vertical 43

Review of the Main Points 46

Endnotes 48

5 Transport Processes 51

5.1 Vertical Transport and Convection 51

5.2 Horizontal Motion and the General Circulation 56

5.3 Turbulent Transport 61

5.4 Quantifying Transport Processes 66

Review of the Main Points 69

Endnotes 70

6 Mechanisms of Sources and Sinks 73

6.1 Reservoirs and Source-Sink Relationships 74

6.2 Atmospheric Chemistry 77

6.3 Global Environmental Applications 82

6.4 Cross-Media Transport: Oceans, Soils, and Biota 90

Review of the Main Points 100

Endnotes 102

7 Balance of Climate Gases and Aerosols 107

7.1 Anthropogenic vs Natural Components 107

7.2 Greenhouse Gases 110

7.3 Aerosols 123

Review of the Main Points 126

Endnotes 127

8 The Science of Climate 131

8.1 Solar Radiation 131

8.2 Albedo 135

8.3 Radiative Transfer 137

8.4 Heat Storage and Balance 150

8.5 Precipitation 152

Review of the Main Points 154

Endnotes 156

9 Instructive Climate Models 159

9.1 Base Temperature Model - Lessons, Flaws, and Resolution 159

9.2 Radiative Forcing and Climate Sensitivity 166

9.3 Practical Relationships between Greenhouse Gases and Surface Warming 168

9.4 Role of the Oceans 171

9.5 Role of Clouds 174

9.6 Horizontal Transport of Heat 175

Review of the Main Points 178

Endnotes 180

10 Climate Feedbacks 183

10.1 How They Work 183

10.2 Feedbacks Classified and Delineated 188

10.3 Physical Feedbacks 189

10.4 Role of the Living World 192

Review of the Main Points 197

Endnotes 199

11 Match of Climate Change Observed and Modeled 201

11.1 What Is Global Warming? 201

11.2 Causes of Observed Warming 204

11.3 Differential Effects of Climate Change 207

Review of the Main Points 210

Endnotes 210

12 Population, Affluence, and Global Change 213

12.1 Basic Relationships 213

12.2 Societal Factors in Climate Change 215

12.3 Population Growth and Resources 218

12.4 Vulnerability Theory 222

Review of the Main Points 225

Endnotes 226

13 Impacts of Climate Change on Human Life 229

13.1 Impacts Classified 229

13.2 Health 230

13.3 Habitability 234

Review of the Main Points 239

Endnotes 240

14 Climate Management 243

14.1 Tragedy of the Commons 243

14.2 Compounding