Research Catalog

Title

Earth's climate : past and future / William F. Ruddiman.

Author

Ruddiman, W. F. (William F.), 1943-

Publication

New York : W.H. Freeman, c2001.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxi, 465 p. : col. ill., col. maps; 28 cm.

Summary

"Earth's Climate: Past and Future" works as either a nonmajors introduction to Earth system science or climate change, or as a majors/graduate-level overview of the processes and techniques in climate science. Written from a multidisciplinary perspective by a researcher/instructor in the field, the text summarizes the major lessons to be learned from 550 million years of climate changes, as a way of evaluating the climatological impact on and by humans in this century. The book also looks ahead to possible effects during the next several centuries of fossil fuel use.

Subject

• Climatology
• Climatic changes
• Climatologie
• Climat > Changements
• Climate Change

Genre/Form

Textbooks

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Part I Framework of Climate Science 1 -- Chapter 1 Overview of Climate Science 2 -- Climate and Climate Change 3 -- Development of Climate Science 6 -- Overview of the Climate System 8 -- Tools of Climate Science: Temperature Scales 4 -- Chapter 2 Earth's Climate System Today 18 -- Heating Earth 19 -- Heat Transfer in Earth's Atmosphere 31 -- Heat Transfer in Earth's Oceans 39 -- Ice on Earth 44 -- Earth's Biosphere 47 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: The Structure of Earth's Atmosphere 22 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Albedo/Temperature 25 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Water in the Climate System 27 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Water Vapor 31 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: The Coriolis Effect 36 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Vegetation-Climate Feedbacks 51 -- Chapter 3 Climate Archives, Data, and Models 54 -- Climate Archives 54 -- Climate Data 66 -- Climate Models 71 -- Part II Tectonic-Scale Climate Change 84 -- Chapter 4 Co[subscript 2] and Long-Term Climate 86 -- Greenhouse Worlds 87 -- Faint Young Sun Paradox 88 -- Carbon Exchanges between Rocks and the Atmosphere 91 -- Climate Factors That Control Chemical Weathering 94 -- Chemical Weathering: Earth's Thermostat? 96 -- Is Life the Ultimate Control on Earth's Thermostat? 99 -- Climate Debate: A Snowball Earth? 89 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: The Organic Carbon Subcycle 98 -- Chapter 5 Plate Tectonics and Climate 103 -- Plate Tectonics 103 -- Polar Position Hypothesis 109 -- Modeling Climate on the Supercontinent Pangaea 112 -- Tectonic Control of CO[subscript 2] Input: The BLAG Spreading Rate Hypothesis 116 -- Tectonic Control of CO[subscript 2] Removal: The Uplift Weathering Hypothesis 121 -- What Controls Chemical Weathering? 125 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Brief Glaciation 430 Myr Ago 126 -- Chapter 6 Greenhouse Earth 129 -- What Explains Greenhouse Warmth 100 Myr Ago? 130 -- Sea Level Changes and Climate 137 -- Asteroid Impacts 143 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: The Effect of CO[subscript 2] on Climate 134 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Calculating Changes in Sea Level 142 -- Chapter 7 Back into the Icehouse: The Last 55 Million Years 147 -- Global Climate Change Since 55 Myr Ago 148 -- Why Did Global Climate Cool over the Last 55 Myr? 154 -- Understanding and Predicting Tectonic Climate Change 166 -- Tools of Climate Science: Oxtygen Isotope Ratios ([delta superscript 18]O) 151 -- Climate Debate: The Timing of Uplift in Western North America 158 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Is [superscript 87]Sr/[superscript 86]Sr an Index of Chemical Weathering? 168 -- Part III Orbital-Scale Climate Change 172 -- Chapter 8 Astronomical Control of Solar Radiation 174 -- Earth's Orbit Today 175 -- Long-Term Changes in Earth's Orbit 176 -- Changes in Insolation Received on Earth 185 -- Looking for Orbital-Scale Changes in Climate Records 188 -- Tools of Climate Science: Cycles and Modulation 177 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Earth's Precession as a Sine Wave 182 -- Chapter 9 Insolation Control of Monsoons 193 -- Monsoon Circulations 194 -- Evidence of Orbital-Scale Changes in Summer Monsoons 197 -- Refinements of the Orbital Monsoon Hypothesis 204 -- Monsoon Forcing Earlier in Earth's History 205 -- Chapter 10 Insolation Control of Ice Sheets 210 -- What Controls the Size of Ice Sheets? 211 -- Modeling the Behavior of Ice Sheets 213 -- Northern Hemisphere Ice Sheet History 220 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Ice Volume Response to Insolation 216 -- Climate Debate: Antarctic Deglaciation 3 Myr Ago? 226 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Sea Level on Uplifting Islands 230 -- Chapter 11 Orbital-Scale Changes in Carbon Dioxide and Methane 234 -- Ice Cores 235 -- Orbital-Scale Changes in Methane 237n -- Orbital-Scale Changes in CO[subscript 2] 238 -- Tools of Climate Science: Carbon Isotope Ratios ([delta superscript 13]C) 243 -- Climate Debate: Do Winds Fertilize the Glacial Ocean? 247 -- Chapter 12 Orbital-Scale Interactions in the Climate System 254 -- Orbital-Scale Forcing and Response Revisited 255 -- Ice-Driven Climate Responses 255 -- CO[subscript 2] Level and Ice Volume: Which Drives Which? 265 -- Mystery of the 100,000-Year Cycle 266 -- Part IV Deglacial and Millennial Climate Changes 274 -- Chapter 13 Last Glacial Maximum 276 -- Glacial World: More Ice and Less Gas 277 -- Testing Model Simulations Against Biotic Data 284 -- Data-Model Comparisons of Glacial Maximum Climates 287 -- How Cold Were the Glacial Tropics? 295 -- Looking Deeper into Climate Science: Ventilating the Glacial Ocean 290 -- Chapter 14 Climate During and Since the Last Deglaciation 301 -- Fire and Ice: A Shift in the Balance of Power 302 -- Climate Changes During and Since Deglaciation 313 -- Fading Memories of Melting Ice 322 -- Predicting Future Orbital-Scale Changes 326 -- Tools of Climate Science: Deglacial [superscript 14]C Dates Are Too Young 305 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Giant Deglacial Floods 312 -- Chapter 15 Millennial Oscillations in Climate 330 -- Millennial Oscillations During Glaciations 331 -- Millennial Oscillations During the Last 8000 Years 342 -- Causes of Millennial-Scale Oscillations 345 -- Implications of Millennial Oscillations for Future Climate 350 -- Tools of Climate Science: [delta superscript 18]O Fluctuations in Ice Cores 332 -- Part V Historical and Future Climate Changes 352 -- Chapter 16 Historical Changes in Climate 354 -- Little Ice Age: Local or Global? 358 -- Proxy Measures of Historical Climate 357 -- Historical and Instrumental Observations 369 -- Natural Causes of Historical Climate Changes 376 -- Tools of Climate Science: Analyzing Tree Rings 362 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: El Nino 366 -- Climate Debate: Satellites vs. Surface Temperatures 372 -- Chapter 17 Humans and Climate Change 383 -- Impact of Climate on Human Evolution 384 -- Impact of Climate on Early Civilizations 391 -- Early Impacts of Humans on Climate 394 -- Impacts of Humans on the Atmosphere: The Last 250 Years 396 -- Climate Debate: Impacts of Humans on CH[subscript 4] Levels for 5000 Years? 400 -- Chapter 18 Climate in the Twentieth Century 405 -- Impact of Natural Variations in Climate 406 -- Earth's Sensitivity to Greenhouse Gases 408 -- Causes of Global Warming in the Twentieth Century 414 -- Greenhouse Debate: Proponents and Skeptics 419 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Direct Radiative Forcing 410 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Deep-Ocean Warming in the Twentieth Century? 416 -- Chapter 19 Climate Change in the Next 100 to 1000 Years 423 -- Natural Variations in Climate 424 -- Future Human Impacts on Climate 425 -- Future Climate Change Caused by Increased CO[subscript 2] 429 -- Monitoring Greenhouse Warming: The Next Few Decades 435 -- Impacts of Future Increases in Greenhouse Gases on Humans 438 -- Climate Interactions and Feedbacks: Will Frozen Methane Melt? 428.

ISBN

0716737418 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^00012165^

OCLC

• 45263857
• SCSB-10235608

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library