Natural Climate Variability and Global Warming (eBook, PDF)

A Holocene Perspective
Redaktion: Battarbee, Richard W.; Binney, Heather A.

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Whilst there is now overwhelming evidence that greenhouse-gas pollution is becoming the dominant process responsible for global warming, it is also clear that the climate system varies quite naturally on different time-scales. Predicting the course of future climate change consequently requires an understanding of the natural variability of the climate system as well as the effects of human-induced change. This book is concerned with our current understanding of natural climate change, its variability on decadal to centennial time-scales, the extent to which climate models of different kinds simulate past variability, and the role of past climate variability in explaining changes to natural ecosystems and to human society over the later part of the Holocene. The book highlights the need to improve not only our understanding of the physical system through time but also to improve our knowledge of how people may have influenced the climate system in the past and have been influenced by it, both directly and indirectly. This ground-breaking text addresses predictable modification in the climate system in the context of global warming. Ideal for researchers and advanced students, it explores current thinking on natural climate change. * Addresses the natural variability of the climate system in the context of global warming * Contributes substantially to the ongoing discussion on global warming * Integrates state of the art research and brings together modeling and data communities in a balanced way * Considers questions of climate change on different time-scales "Natural Climate Variability and Global Warming is clearly an important book, well-focused and distinctive, with fundamental things to say about Holocene science and its interface with the practical problem of global warming. It is an authoritative, up-to-date summary and synthesis of current knowledge in this area and is attractively produced with clear, colour illustrations throughout. It is a 'must' for all university libraries and our private book collections." The Holocene, 2009

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: John Wiley & Sons
• Seitenzahl: 288
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. Januar 2009
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781444300949
• Artikelnr.: 38307969

Autorenporträt

Rick Battarbee is Professor of Environmental Change and Director of the Environmental Change Research Centre at UCL. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and was the Chair of the European Science Foundation program "HOLIVAR." Heather Binney is a Research Fellow in the Environmental Change Research Centre, UCL. She is a palynologist with a special interest in pollen-vegetation relationships.

Inhaltsangabe

Contributors.
Abbreviations.
1. Holocene climate variability and global warming (Richard W. Battarbee).
2. Holocene climate research - progress, paradigms, and problems (H. John
B. Birks).
3. The role of people in the Holocene (Frank Oldfield).
4. Modelling the climate of the Holocene (Michel Crucifix).
5. The early to mid-Holocene thermal optimum in the North Atlantic (
Eystein Jansen, Carin Andersson, Matthias Moros, Kerim H. Nisancioglu,
Birgitte F. Nyland, and Richard J. Telford).
6. Holocene climate change and the evidence for solar and other forcings (
Juerg Beer and Bas van Geel).
7. Climate of the past millennium: combining proxy data and model
simulations (Hugues Goosse, Michael E. Mann, and Hans Renssen).
8. Latitudinal linkages in late-Holocene moisture-balance variation (Dirk
Verschuren and Dan J. Charman).
9. Holocene rapid land-cover changes - evidence and theory (Martin Claussen
).
10. Holocene perspectives on future climate change (Ray Bradley).
Index.

Rezensionen

"Volumessuch as this provide the historical contexts and broad overviewsneeded to advance climate change biology toward broader conceptualdevelopments and synthetic methodologies for understanding andpredicting climate change effects, as well as developing effectiveadaptation and mitigation strategies.". (The Quarterly Review ofBiology, 1 December 2010)

"Thisis an important book for understanding climate changes in a longerperspective." (Geologos,2010)

"This bookbrings together some of the most prolific names in their field tocreate a sound and interesting look into this area." (TheEnvironmentalist, November2009)

"It highlights the need to improve not only ourunderstanding of the physical system through time but also ourknowledge of human influence on the climate system and viceversa." (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, April 2009)

"Although aimed at 'researchers and advancedstudents', this layman found the book perfectlyaccessible." (Geoscientist, August 2009)

"The rapid climate change that seems to be occurring world-widemake this volume both timely and instructive, concentrating as itdoes on the Holocene period.... An essential addition for anmeteorological library." (The International Journal ofMeteorology, April 2009)

The Holocene, the interval covered by the last 12,000 years,represents a largely nonglacial period in Earth's climaticevolution. This book synthesizes the climate history of thisinterval and investigates the role of natural climate variabilityin explaining current global warming. The volume contains tenchapters written by experts in various aspects of past climatechange. Chapter 1 provides a short introduction and outlines theobjectives/contents of subsequent chapters. The next chapter, thelongest (51 pages), considers the progress, paradigms, and problemsin Holocene climate research. Chapter 3 addresses the fundamentalquestion of the human role in the changing climate of the Holocenewhile acknowledging that climate change itself has stronglyimpacted the history of civilizations. Our ability to predictfuture climate depends on our ability to reconstruct and model whathas already happened; chapter 4 explores this vital issue.Subsequent chapters examine some relevant intervals including theso-called Holocene thermal optimum, and evaluate and model whatnatural processes might have contributed to observed climatehistories. The final chapters assess rapid land-cover change andanalyze future climate change within the perspective of the last12,000 years. Includes chapter references, an eight-page index, anda three-page summary of abbreviations and dating conventions.Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers,faculty, professional audiences. -- J. T. Andrews, University ofColorado at Boulder (Choice, February 2009)