Earth''s Climate Evolution - A Geological Perspective

Informationen zum Autor Colin Summerhayes is an Emeritus Associate of the Scott Polar Research Institute of Cambridge University. He has carried out research on past climate change in both academia and industry: at Imperial College London; the University of Cape Town; the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; the UK's Institute of Oceanographic Sciences Deacon Laboratory; the UK's Southampton (now National) Oceanography Centre; the Exxon Production Research Company; and the BP Research Company. He has managed research programmes on climate change for the UK's Natural Environment Research Council, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research of the International Council for Science. He has co-edited several books relating to aspects of past or modern climate, including North Atlantic Palaeoceanography (1986), Upwelling Systems : Evolution Since the Early Miocene (1992), Upwelling in the Oceans (1995), Oceanography : An Illustrated Guide (1996), Understanding the Oceans (2001), Oceans 2020 : Science, Trends and the Challenge of Sustainability (2002), Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (2009), and Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges : International Polar Year 2007-2008 (2011). Klappentext To understand climate change today, we first need to know how Earth's climate changed over the past 450 million years. Finding answers depends upon contributions from a wide range of sciences, not just the rock record uncovered by geologists. In Earth's Climate Evolution, Colin Summerhayes analyzes reports and records of past climate change dating back to the late 18th century to uncover key patterns in the climate system. The book will transform debate and set the agenda for the next generation of thought about future climate change.The book takes a unique approach to the subject providing a description of the greenhouse and icehouse worlds of the past 450 million years since land plants emerged, ignoring major earlier glaciations like that of Snowball Earth, which occurred around 600 million years ago in a world free of land plants. It describes the evolution of thinking in palaeoclimatology and introduces the main players in the field and how their ideas were received and, in many cases, subsequently modified. It records the arguments and discussions about the merits of different ideas along the way. It also includes several notes made from the author's own personal involvement in palaeoclimatological and palaeoceanographic studies, and from his experience of working alongside several of the major players in these fields in recent years.This book will be an invaluable reference for both undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in related fields and will also be of interest to historians of science and/or geology, climatology and oceanography. It should also be of interest to the wider scientific and engineering community, high school science students, policy makers, and environmental NGOs.Reviews:"Outstanding in its presentation of the facts and a good read in the way that it intersperses the climate story with the author's own experiences. [This book] puts the climate story into a compelling geological history."-Dr. James Baker"The book is written in very clear and concise prose, [and takes] original, enlightening, and engaging approach to talking about 'ideas' from the perspective of the scientists who promoted them."-Professor Christopher R. Scotese Zusammenfassung To understand climate change today, we first need to know how Earth s climate changed over the past 450 million years. Finding answers depends upon contributions from a wide range of sciences, not just the rock record uncovered by geologists. Inhaltsverzeichnis Author Biography xi Foreword xiii Acknowledgements xv 1 Introduc...

List of contents

Author Biography xi
 
Foreword xiii
 
Acknowledgements xv
 
1 Introduction 1
 
References 7
 
2 The Great Cooling 8
 
2.1 The Founding Fathers 8
 
2.2 Charles Lyell, 'Father of Palaeoclimatology' 12
 
2.3 Agassiz Discovers the Ice Age 17
 
2.4 Lyell Defends Icebergs 20
 
References 25
 
3 Ice Age Cycles 28
 
3.1 The Astronomical Theory of Climate Change 28
 
3.2 James Croll Develops the Theory 29
 
3.3 Lyell Responds 32
 
3.4 Croll Defends his Position 33
 
3.5 Even More Ancient Ice Ages 34
 
3.6 Not Everyone Agrees 34
 
References 35
 
4 Trace Gases Warm the Planet 37
 
4.1 De Saussure's Hot Box 37
 
4.2 William Herschel's Accidental Discovery 37
 
4.3 Discovering Carbon Dioxide 38
 
4.4 Fourier, the 'Newton of Heat', Discovers the 'Greenhouse Effect' 39
 
4.5 Tyndall Shows How the 'Greenhouse Effect' Works 40
 
4.6 Arrhenius Calculates How CO2 Affects Air Temperature 43
 
4.7 Chamberlin's Theory of Gases and Ice Ages 45
 
References 49
 
5 Moving Continents and Dating Rocks 51
 
5.1 The Continents Drift 51
 
5.2 The Seafloor Spreads 56
 
5.3 The Dating Game 61
 
5.4 Base Maps for Palaeoclimatology 62
 
5.5 The Evolution of the Modern World 65
 
References 68
 
6 Mapping Past Climates 71
 
6.1 Climate Indicators 71
 
6.2 Palaeoclimatologists Get to Work 72
 
6.3 Palaeomagneticians Enter the Field 75
 
6.4 Oxygen Isotopes to the Rescue 77
 
6.5 Cycles and Astronomy 78
 
6.6 Pangaean Palaeoclimates (Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic) 81
 
6.7 Post-Break-Up Palaeoclimates (Jurassic, Cretaceous) 87
 
6.8 Numerical Models Make their Appearance 94
 
6.9 From Wegener to Barron 98
 
References 99
 
7 Into the Icehouse 105
 
7.1 Climate Clues from the Deep Ocean 105
 
7.2 Palaeoceanography 106
 
7.3 The World's Freezer 111
 
7.4 The Drill Bit Turns 114
 
7.5 Global Cooling 119
 
7.6 Arctic Glaciation 125
 
References 127
 
8 The Greenhouse Gas Theory Matures 132
 
8.1 CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean (1930-1955) 132
 
8.2 CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean (1955-1979) 133
 
8.3 CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean (1979-1983) 141
 
8.4 Biogeochemistry: The Merging of Physics and Biology 144
 
8.5 The Carbon Cycle 145
 
8.6 Oceanic Carbon 147
 
8.7 Measuring CO2 in the Oceans 148
 
8.8 A Growing International Emphasis 149
 
8.9 Reflection on Developments 150
 
References 152
 
9 Measuring and Modelling CO2 Back through Time 156
 
9.1 CO2: The Palaeoclimate Perspective 156
 
9.2 Fossil CO2 157
 
9.3 Measuring CO2 Back through Time 159
 
9.4 Modelling CO2 and Climate 165
 
9.5 The Critics Gather 168
 
References 176
 
10 The Pulse of the Earth 181
 
10.1 Climate Cycles and Tectonic Forces 181
 
10.2 Ocean Chemistry 188
 
10.3 Black Shales 190
 
10.4 Sea Level 193
 
10.5 Biogeochemical Cycles, Gaia and Cybertectonic Earth 194
 
10.6 Meteorite Impacts 196
 
10.7 Massive Volcanic Eruptions 199
 
References 203
 
11 Numerical Climate Models and Case Histories 207
 
11.1 CO2 and General Circulation Models 207
 
11.2 CO2 and Climate in the Early Cenozoic 211
 
11.3 The First Great Ice Sheet 215
 
11.4 Hyperthermal Events 218
 

Product details

• Authors: C. P. Summerhayes, Colin P Summerhayes, Colin P. Summerhayes, Colin P. (Southampton Oceanography Ce Summerhayes, Colin P. (Southampton Oceanography Centre Summerhayes, CP Summerhayes, Summerhayes Colin P.
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 16.10.2015
• EAN: 9781118897393
• ISBN: 978-1-118-89739-3
• No. of pages: 416
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > General, dictionaries; Geologie, Geowissenschaften, Klimatologie, Earth Sciences, Geology & Geophysics, Geologie u. Geophysik, Climatology & Palaeoclimatology, Klimatologie u. Paläoklimatologie