Assessing Climate Change: Temperatures, Solar Radiation and Heat Balance (Springer Praxis Books / Environmental Sciences) (Springer Praxis Books / Environmental Sciences)

In ASSESSING CLIMATE CHANGE Donald Rapp has investigated a large body of scientific data relevant to climate change, approaching each element with necessary (but neutral) scientific skepticism. The chapters of the book attempt to answer a number of essential questions in relation to global warming and climate change. He begins by showing how the earth s climate has varied in the past, discussing ice ages, the Holocene period since the end of the last ice age, particularly during the past 1000 years. He investigates the reliability of "proxies" for historical temperatures and assesses the hockey stick version of global temperatures for the past millennium. To do this effectively he looks carefully at how well near surface temperatures of land and ocean on earth have been monitored during the past 100 years or more, and looks at the utility and significance of a single global average temperature. Topics such as the variability of the Sun and the Earth s heat balance are discussed in considerable detail. The author also investigates how the current global warming trend compares with past fluctuations in earth s climate and what is the likelihood that the warming trend we are experiencing now is primarily just another in a series of natural climate fluctuations as opposed to a direct result of human activities. A key factor in understanding what may happen in the future is to examine the credibility of the global climate models which claim that greenhouse gasses produce most of the temperature rise of the 20th Century, and forecast much greater impacts in the century ahead. Finally, the book considers future global energy requirements, fossil fuel usage and carbon dioxide production, public policy relating to global warming, and agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol. "Assessing Climate Change attempts to answer a number of essential questions in relation to global warming and climate change, uniquely providing a balanced and impartial discussion of this controversial subject. It shows how the Earth's climate has varied in the past, particularly during the past 1000 years. The book critically assesses the reliability of 'proxies' for historical temperatures and the 'hockey stick' version of global temperatures for the past millennium, and provides a careful analysis of how well near-surface temperatures of land and ocean have been monitored over the past 100 years, and the utility and significance of a single global average temperature." "The author compares the current global warming trend with past fluctuations in Earth's climate, and discusses whether the present warming trend is primarily just another in a series of natural climate fluctuations as opposed to a direct result of human activities. By examining the credibility of the global climate models which accuse greenhouse gasses of causing the temperature rise of the 20th century, Assessing Climate Change provides a better understanding of what might lie ahead in the future."--Jacket Front Matter....Pages i-xxix Historical variations in the Earth’s climate....Pages 1-39 Temperatures in the past millennium....Pages 41-99 Temperatures in the past century....Pages 101-142 Variability of the Sun....Pages 143-209 The Earth’s heat balance and the greenhouse effect....Pages 211-262 CO 2 production and climate change....Pages 263-289 Impacts of global warming....Pages 291-315 Global climate change and public policy....Pages 317-331 Final remarks....Pages 333-340 Back Matter....Pages 341-374