Human impacts on weather and climate / William R. Cotton and Roger A. Pielke, Sr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cotton, William R., 1940-

Contributor:

Pielke, Roger A., Jr., 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Climatology.

Weather.

Nature--Effect of human beings on.

Nature.

Climatic changes.

Physical Description:

ix, 308 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Summary:

This new edition of Human Impacts on Weather and Climate examines the scientific debates surrounding anthropogenic impacts on the Earth's climate and presents the most recent theories, data, and modeling studies. The book discusses the concepts behind deliberate human attempts to modify the weather through cloud seeding, as well as inadvertent modification of weather and climate on regional and global scales through the emission of aerosols and gases and change in land-use. The natural variability of weather and climate greatly complicates our ability to determine a clear cause-and-effect relationship to human activity. The authors examine the strengths and weaknesses of the various hypotheses regarding human impacts on global climate in simple and accessible terms. Like the first edition, this fully revised new edition will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate courses in atmospheric and environmental science, and will also appeal to policy-makers and general readers interested in how humans are affecting the global climate.

Contents:

Part I The rise and fall of the science of weather modification by cloud seeding 1

1 The rise of the science of weather modification by cloud seeding 3

1.1 Project Cirrus 5

2 The glory years of weather modification 9

2.2 The static mode of cloud seeding 9

2.3 The dynamic mode of cloud seeding 20

2.4 Modification of warm clouds 32

2.4.2 Basic physical concepts of precipitation formation in warm clouds 33

2.4.3 Strategies for enhancing rainfall from warm clouds 36

2.5 Hail suppression 40

2.5.2 Basic concepts of hailstorms and hail formation 41

2.5.3 Hail suppression concepts 56

2.5.4 Field confirmation of hail suppression techniques 61

2.6 Modification of tropical cyclones 63

2.6.1 Basic conceptual model of hurricanes 63

2.6.2 The Stormfury modification hypothesis 65

2.6.3 Stormfury field experiments 65

3 The fall of the science of weather modification by cloud seeding 67

Part II Inadvertent human impacts on regional weather and climate 73

4 Anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and gases 75

4.1 Cloud condensation nuclei and precipitation 75

4.2 Aircraft contrails 82

4.3 Ice nuclei and precipitation 85

4.4 Other pollution effects 86

4.5 Dust 87

4.5.1 Direct radiative forcing 87

4.5.2 Indirect effects of dust 88

5 Urban-induced changes in precipitation and weather 90

5.2 Urban increases in CCN and IN concentrations and spectra 91

5.3 The glaciation mechanism 92

5.4 Impact of urban land use on precipitation and weather 93

5.4.1 Observed cloud morphology and frequency 97

5.4.2 Clouds and precipitation deduced from radar studies 97

6 Other land-use/land-cover changes 102

6.1 Landscape effects 102

6.1.1 Surface effects 102

6.1.2 Boundary-layer effects 108

6.1.3 Local wind circulations 111

6.1.4 Vertical perspective 112

6.1.5 Mesoscale and regional horizontal perspective 112

6.2 Influence of irrigation 118

6.2.1 Colorado 118

6.2.2 Nebraska 121

6.3 Dryland agriculture: Oklahoma 131

6.4 Desertification 131

6.4.1 Historical overview 131

6.4.2 North Africa 132

6.4.3 Western Australia 132

6.4.4 Middle East 133

6.5 Deforestation 135

6.5.1 Historical perspective 135

6.5.2 Amazon 135

6.5.3 Africa 137

6.6 Regional vegetation feedbacks 138

7 Concluding remarks regarding deliberate and inadvertent human impacts on regional weather and climate 148

Part III Human impacts on global climate 151

8 Overview of global climate forcings and feedbacks 153

8.2 Atmospheric radiation 155

8.2.1 Absorption and scattering by gases 156

8.2.2 Absorption and scattering by aerosols 158

8.2.3 Absorption and scattering by clouds 159

8.2.4 Global energy balance and the greenhouse effect 160

8.2.5 Changes in solar luminosity and orbital parameters 161

8.2.6 Natural variations in aerosols and dust 165

8.2.7 Surface properties 165

8.2.8 Assessment of the relative radiative effect of carbon dioxide and water vapor 166

8.3 Climate feedbacks 174

8.3.1 Water vapor feedbacks 174

8.3.2 Cloud feedbacks 176

8.3.3 Surface albedo feedbacks 179

8.3.4 Ocean feedbacks 180

8.4 Views of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the National Research Council of climate forcings 181

9 Climatic effects of anthropogenic aerosols 187

9.2 Direct aerosol effects 188

9.3 Aerosol impacts on clouds: the Twomey effect 192

9.4 Aerosols in mixed-phase clouds and climate 198

9.5 Aerosols, deep convection, and climate 201

10 Nuclear winter 203

10.2 The nuclear winter hypothesis: its scientific basis 205

10.2.1 The war scenarios 205

10.2.2 Smoke production 206

10.2.3 Vertical distribution of smoke 207

10.2.4 Scavenging and sedimentation of smoke 208

10.2.5 Water injection and mesoscale responses 210

10.2.6 Other mesoscale responses 212

10.2.7 Global climatic responses 213

10.2.8 Biological effects 216

11 Global effects of land-use/land-cover change and vegetation dynamics 220

11.1 Land-use/land-cover changes 220

11.2 Historical land-use change 221

11.3 Global perspective 224

11.4 Quantifying land-use/land-cover forcing of climate 232

11.5 Atmosphere-vegetation interactions 237

11.6 The abrupt desertification of the Sahara 240

E.1 The importance and underappreciation of natural variability 243

E.2 The dangers of overselling 244

E.3 The capricious administration of science and technology 247

E.4 Scientific credibility and advocacy 248

E.5 Should society wait for hard scientific evidence? 250

E.6 Politics and science 251.

Notes:

Previous ed.: 1995.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-304) and index.

ISBN:

0521840864

9780521840866

0521600561

9780521600569

OCLC:

72148372