Paleoclimates

Understanding Climate Change Past and Present

Thomas M. Cronin (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

448 Seiten

2009
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-14494-0 (ISBN)

Infos

The field of paleoclimatology relies on physical, chemical, and biological proxies of past climate changes that have been preserved in natural archives such as glacial ice, tree rings, sediments, corals, and speleothems. Paleoclimate archives obtained through field investigations, ocean sediment coring expeditions, ice sheet coring programs, and other projects allow scientists to reconstruct climate change over much of earth's history. When combined with computer model simulations, paleoclimatic reconstructions are used to test hypotheses about the causes of climatic change, such as greenhouse gases, solar variability, earth's orbital variations, and hydrological, oceanic, and tectonic processes. This book is a comprehensive, state-of-the art synthesis of paleoclimate research covering all geological timescales, emphasizing topics that shed light on modern trends in the earth's climate. Thomas M.
Cronin discusses recent discoveries about past periods of global warmth, changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, abrupt climate and sea-level change, natural temperature variability, and other topics directly relevant to controversies over the causes and impacts of climate change. This text is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in geology, geography, biology, glaciology, oceanography, atmospheric sciences, and climate modeling, fields that contribute to paleoclimatology. This volume can also serve as a reference for those requiring a general background on natural climate variability.

Autor

Thomas M. Cronin is an adjunct professor in the Science, Technology, and International Affairs Program at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he teaches a course on oceans, climate, and world policy. Since earning his Ph.D. in geology at Harvard University, Cronin has been a leading researcher in the field of paleoclimate and sea-level change. He has published numerous papers and one textbook. He currently serves as coeditor of the journal Global and Planetary Change.

Inhalt

List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Paleoclimatology and Modern Challenges 2. Methods in Paleoclimatology 3. Deep Time: Climate from 3.8 Billion to 65 Million Years Ago 4. Cenozoic Climate 5. Orbital Climate Change 6. Glacial Millennial Climate Change 7. Millennial Climate Events During Deglaciation 8. Holocene Climate Variability 9. Abrupt Climate Events 10. Internal Modes of Climate Variability 11. The Anthropocene I: Global and Hemispheric Temperature 12. The Anthropocene II: Climatic and Hydrological Change During the Last 2000 Years Epilogue Appendix: Paleoclimate Proxies References Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.11.2009
• Zusatzinfo: 26 halftones, 59 color illus., 62 line drawings, 22 tables
• Verlagsort: New York
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 216 x 279 mm
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Meteorologie / Klimatologie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Geowissenschaften ► Mineralogie / Paläontologie
• ISBN-10: 0-231-14494-6 / 0231144946
• ISBN-13: 978-0-231-14494-0 / 9780231144940
• Zustand: Neuware