V. Cornitz – Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments

Автор: V. Cornitz
Название книги: Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Древний мир и Античность
Страницы: 1061
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

One of Springer’s Major Reference Works, this book gives the reader a truly global perspective. It is the first major reference work in its field. Paleoclimate topics covered in the encyclopedia give the reader the capability to place the observations of recent global warming in the context of longer-term natural climate fluctuations. Significant elements of the encyclopedia include recent developments in paleoclimate modeling, paleo-ocean circulation, as well as the influence of geological processes and biological feedbacks on global climate change. The encyclopedia gives the reader an entry point into the literature on these and many other groundbreaking topics.

The growing levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases generated
by anthropogenic activities are already beginning to affect the
Earth's climate, according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, and concern is mounting over
potential adverse consequences to society. However, Earth's climate
has shifted dramatically and frequently during the last few
million years, alternating between ice ages, when vast glaciers
covered Northern Europe and much of North America, and
interglacials—warm periods much like today. Farther back in
geologic time, climates have differed even more from the present.
Could human actions push the Earth's climate system into
an unstable mode, beyond the relatively mild oscillations of the
last few millennia? To fully understand the unusual changes of
the 20th century and possible future trends, these need to be
placed in a longer-term context extending well beyond the period
of instrumental records. Paleoclimatology—the study of climates
of the past–may provide us with insights into the workings of the
modern climate system. By reconstructing ancient climates using
natural “archives” of environmental change recorded in trees, corals,
cave deposits, ice cores, lake and ocean sediments, and running
computer models, paleoclimatologists can place bounds on past
climate variability and help us anticipate possible future changes.
The Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments,
a companion volume to the recently-published
Encyclopedia of World Climatology, provides the reader with
an entry point to the rapidly expanding field of paleoclimatology.
Highly interdisciplinary, paleoclimatology integrates information
from a broad array of disciplines in the geosciences,
spanning across stratigraphy, geomorphology, glaciology, paleoecology,
paleobotany, isotope geochemistry, geochronology, and
geophysics, among others. The encyclopedia covers the entire
span of the Earth's climate history from the early Precambrian
to the Little Ice Age, and also offers an interplanetary comparison
with the contrasting climates of Mars and Venus in 230 informative
articles written by over 200 well known international
experts. The climates of the past were the product of closely
inter-connected processes that shaped the Earth's atmosphere,
lithosphere, and biosphere. Therefore, the separation between
topics is somewhat arbitrary and a certain degree of overlap
is inevitable. However, since authors often approach similar
topics from differing perspectives, these differences can provide
a fuller picture overall. The volume is abundantly illustrated with
line-drawings, black-white and color photographs. Articles are
arranged alphabetically, with extensive bibliographies and crossreferences.
March 2008