Global Warming : Understanding the Forecast

by David Archer (University of Chicago)

• ISBN13: 9781405140393
• ISBN10: 1405140399
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-12-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast is a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of global warming. Written in an accessible way, this important book examines the processes of climate change and climate stability, from the distant past to the distant future.Examining the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle, and what the future may hold for global climate, this text draws from a wide range of disciplines, and summarizes not only scientific evidence, but also economic and policy issues, related to global warming. A companion web site (http://understandingtheforecast.org) provides access to interactive computer models of the physics and chemistry behind the global warming forecast, which can be used to support suggested student projects included at the end of each chapter. Solutions and artwork from the book are available to instructors at www.blackwellpublishing.com/archer.Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast provides an essential introduction to this vital issue for both students and general readers, with or without a science background.

Author Biography

David Archer is a computational ocean chemist at the University of Chicago. He is interested in the carbon cycle and its interaction with global climate, in the past and future.

Table of Contents

Online models	vi
Preface	vii
Humankind and climate	1	(6)
Part I The greenhouse effect	7	(76)
Blackbody radiation	9	(10)
The layer model	19	(10)
Greenhouse gases	29	(12)
The temperature structure of the atmosphere	41	(13)
Heat, winds, and currents	54	(15)
Feedbacks	69	(14)
Part II The carbon cycle	83	(44)
Carbon on Earth	85	(14)
Fossil fuels and energy	99	(14)
The perturbed carbon cycle	113	(14)
Part III The forecast	127	(60)
Is it reliable?	129	(17)
The forecast	146	(23)
Decisions, decisions	169	(18)
Glossary	187	(6)
Index	193