Read more
For most people, planet Earth's icy parts remain out of sight and out of mind. Yet it is the melting of ice that will both raise sea level and warm the climate further by reducing the white surfaces that reflect solar energy back into space. In effect, our icy places act as the world's refrigerator, helping to keep our climate relatively cool.
The Icy Planet lays out carbon dioxide's role as the control knob of our climate over the past 1000 million years, then explores what is happening to ice and snow in Antarctica, the Arctic and the high mountains.
List of contents
- Preface
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- Chapter 2: Icehouse Climates
- Chapter 3: East Antarctica - the World's Biggest Ice Cube
- Chapter 4: West Antarctica and Dry Valleys
- Chapter 5: The Antarctica Peninsula, the Falklands and South Georgia
- Chapter 6: The Arctic
- Chapter 7: The Third Pole - Mountain Ice
- Chapter 8: Rising Seas
- Chapter 9: Our Future
- Epilogue
- End Notes (references)
- List of Figure Permissions
- Index
About the author
Colin Summeryhayes is a chartered geologist and Emeritus Associate for the Scott Polar Research
Institute at Cambridge University. He previously served as Executive Director of the International Council for Science's Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research at the Scott Polar Research Institute. His most recent publications include Paleoclimatology (2020) and Earth's Climate Evolution (2015).
Summary
This book takes readers to Antarctica, the Arctic and the high mountains, to see what is happening to their ice, snow and permafrost. Ice and snow reflect solar energy back to space, keeping the planet cool. As global overheating melts them away, we are losing this refrigeration factor, which adds to global overheating. The author begins by laying out the evidence for carbon dioxide as the control knob of climate, and hence of sea level, for the past 1000 million years, before exploring the effects of climate change in the three main icy regions. He shows us how climate change will likely affect us and the planet as we approach the end of this century and beyond. His story ends by analysing how politics and economics are determining our response to global overheating, reminding readers of the enormous global challenges inherent in changing from a fossil fuel to a renewable energy infrastructure. There is no overnight solution. Can we save Earth's refrigerator? Will Net Zero work? Addressing these key questions Summerhayes is cautiously optimistic about our chances provided we have the collective will to act on what we know.
Additional text
What a rich and engrossing book!
