Palaeoclimatology : from snowball earth to the anthropocene / Colin P. Summerhayes, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge University.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Summerhayes, C. P., author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Paleoclimatology.

Physical Description:

xiv, 543 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps (chiefly color) ; 28 cm

Place of Publication:

Chichester, West Sussex ; Hoboken, NJ : Wiley-Blackwell, 2020.

Summary:

Life on our planet depends upon having a climate that changes within narrow limits - not too hot for the oceans to boil away nor too cold for the planet to freeze over. Over the past billion years Earth's average temperature has stayed close to 14-15[¦]C. oscillating between warm greenhouse states and cold icehouse states. We live with variation, but a variation with limits. Palaeoclimatology is the science of understanding and explaining those variations, those limits, and the forces that control them. Without that understanding we will not be able to foresee future change accurately as our population grows. Our impact on the planet is now equal to a geological force, such that many geologists now see us as living in a new geological era - the Anthropocene. --

This book describes Earth's passage through the greenhouse and icehouse worlds of the past 800 million years, including the glaciations of Snowball Earth in a world that was then free of land plants. It describes the operation of the Earth's thermostat, which keeps the planet fit for life, and its control by interactions between greenhouse gases, land plants, chemical weathering, continental motions, volcanic activity, orbital change and solar variability. It explains how we arrived at our current understanding of the climate system. by reviewing the contributions of scientists since the mid-1700s, showing how their ideas were modified as science progressed. And it includes reflections based on the author's involvement in palaeoclimatic research. --Book Jacket.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1.1. What Is Palaeoclimatology?

1.2. What Can Palaeoclimatology Tell Us About Future Climate Change?

1.3. Using Numerical Models to Aid Understanding

1.4. The Structure of This Book

1.5. Why Is This History Not More Widely Known?

References

2.1. The Founding Fathers

2.2. Charles Lyell, 'Father of Palaeoclimatology'

2.3. Agassiz Discovers the Ice Age

2.4. Lyell Defends Icebergs

3.1. The Astronomical Theory of Climate Change

3.2. James Croll Develops the Theory

3.3. Lyell Responds

3.4. Croll Defends His Position

3.5. Even More Ancient Ice Ages

3.6. Not Everyone Agrees

4.1. De Saussure's Hot Box

4.2. William Herschel's Accidental Discovery

4.3. Discovering Carbon Dioxide

4.4. Fourier, the 'Newton of Heat' Discovers the 'Greenhouse Effect'

4.5. Tyndall Shows How the 'Greenhouse Effect' Works

4.6. Arrhenius Calculates How CO2 Affects Air Temperature

4.7. Chamberlin's Theory of Gases and Ice Ages

5.1. The Continents Drift

5.2. The Sea Floor Spreads

5.3. The Dating Game

5.4. Base Maps for Palaeoclimatology

5.5. The Evolution of the Modern World

6.1. Climate Indicators

6.2. Palaeoclimatologists Get to Work

6.3. Refining Palaeolatitudes

6.4. Oxygen Isotopes to the Rescue

6.5. Cycles and Astronomy

6.6. Pangaean Palaeoclimates (Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic)

6.7. Post-Break Up Palaeoclimates (Jurassic, Cretaceous)

6.8. Numerical Models Make Their Appearance

6.9. From Wegener to Barron

7.1. Climate Clues from the Deep Ocean

7.2. Palaeoceanography

7.3. The World's Freezer

7.4. The Drill Bit Turns

7.5. Global Cooling

7.6. Arctic Glaciation

8.1. CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean (1930-1955)

8.2. CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean (1955-1979)

8.3. CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean (1979-1983)

8.4. Biogeochemistry: The Merging of Physics and Biology

8.5. The Carbon Cycle

8.6. Ocean Carbon

8.7. A Growing International Emphasis

8.8. Reflection on Developments

9.1. CO2 - The Palaeoclimate Perspective

9.2. Modelling CO2 Back Through Time

9.3. The Critics Gather

9.4. Fossil CO2

9.5. Measuring CO2 Back Through Time

9.6. CO2, Temperature, Solar Luminosity, and the Ordovician Glaciation

9.7. Some Summary Remarks

10.1. Climate Cycles and Tectonic Forces

10.2. Ocean Chemistry

10.3. Black Shales

10.4. Sea Level

10.5. Biogeochemical Cycles, Gaia and Cybertectonic Earth

10.6. Meteorite Impacts

10.7. Massive Volcanic Eruptions and Biological Extinctions

10.8. An Outrageous Hypothesis: Snowball Earth

11.1. CO2 and General Circulation Models

11.2. Climate Sensitivity

11.3. CO2 and Climate in the Early Cenozoic

11.4. The First Great Ice Sheet

11.5. Hyperthermal Events

11.6. Case History - The Palaeocene - Eocene Boundary

11.7. Case History - The Mid - Miocene Climatic Optimum

11.8. Case History - The Pliocene

12.1. Astronomical Drivers

12.2. An Ice Age Climate Signal Emerges from the Deep Ocean

12.3. Flip-Flops in the Conveyor

12.4. Ice Age CO2 Signal Hidden on Deep Sea Floor

12.5. A Surprise Millennial Signal Emerges

12.6. Ice Age Productivity

12.7. Observations on Deglaciation and Past Interglacials

12.8. Sea Level

12.9. Natural Climatic Envelopes

13.1. The Great Ice Sheets

13.2. The Greenland Story

13.3. Antarctic Ice

13.4. Seesaws

13.5. CO2 in the Ice Age Atmosphere

13.6. The Ultimate Climate Flicker - The Younger Dryas Event

13.7. Problems in the Milankovitch Garden

13.8. The Mechanics of Change

14.1. Holocene Climate Change

14.2. The Role of Greenhouse Gases - Carbon Dioxide and Methane

14.3. Climate Variability

15.1. The Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age

15.2. Solar Activity and Cosmic Rays

15.3. Volcanoes and Climate

15.4. Sea Level

15.5. The End of the Little Ice Age

15.6. The Anthropocene

16.1. A Fast Evolving Subject

16.2. Natural Envelopes of Climate Change - Earth's Thermostat

16.3. Evolving Knowledge

16.4. Where Is Climate Headed?

16.5. Some Final Remarks

16.6. What Can Be Done?

References.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Summerhayes, Colin P., 1942- Palaeoclimatology

ISBN:

9781119591382

1119591384

OCLC:

1145913723

Publisher Number:

99986729442