The Fate of Greenland: Lessons from Abrupt Climate Change - Couverture rigide

Conkling, Philip W.; Alley, Richard; Broekcer, Wallace; Denton, George

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0262015641 ISBN 13 : 9780262015646

Editeur : MIT Press, 2011

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

"This is the best accounting of abrupt climate change available--best because the science is on-target and nuanced and the storytelling is superb." --Peter Kareiva, Chief Scientist and Vice President, The Nature Conservancy "While abrupt changes in the Earth's climate system occur with some frequency, the drivers of these dramatic events are poorly understood. Nowhere are such occurrences more prominent than in Greenland, where several abrupt changes have occurred during the period since the arrival of Norse settlers in the 10th century. In this accessible, illuminating, and richly illustrated book, several prominent climate scientists focus on the case of Greenland to explore the causes and consequences of rapid climate change events." --Oran R. Young, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California at Santa Barbara "This book captures a unique view behind the scenes at a special time in climate science. It is an important work for several reasons: it connects past and potential future climate shifts that have large societal impacts to the mechanics of how the climate system works, and provides a glimpse of the personal detective work the authors have each engaged in as they and others have constructed our present understanding. It also captures well-informed views of how climate changes have worked in the recent past from the perspectives of scientists who have been at the forefront of unraveling aspects of this system. The Fate of Greenland is an excellent reference for establishing a working view of the planet on climate and glacial timescales. This is the right book, with the right tone, to bring this subject to a general audience." --Mark Fahnestock, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire

Pub-quiz enthusiasts may well know what I did not: that the late Gary Comer, the seriously wealthy founder of the Lands End clothing company, was also an excellent photographer and discerning funder of climate-change research, especially in Greenland. This very handsome book presents almost 80 photographs of Greenland s glaciers and mountains with many of the best shots taken by Comer himself along with detailed, well-written accounts of the scientific insights associated with the field trips that Comer supported. It is both a memorial to Comer and a long, thoughtful essay on the character and causes of sudden climate change. .... This book teaches us a lot about how to do science and how to investigate difficult problems about the causes of environmental change. It shows that abrupt climate changes really have happened and puts forward likely mechanisms. It tells us a great deal about the wonders of Greenland and how important the country is as a window on to the recent glaciations. And it makes the whole idea of sudden, grave climate shocks arising from greenhouse emissions seem terribly plausible, even if it does not predict any particular shocks. It is not a story about lands end, but it is a very fine tribute to Comer. --Steve Yearley, Times Higher Education

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Viewed from above, Greenland offers an endless vista of whiteness interrupted only by scattered ponds of azure-colored melt water. Ninety percent of Greenland is covered by ice; its ice sheet, the largest outside Antarctica, stretches almost 1,000 miles from north to south and 600 miles from east to west. But this stark view of ice and snow is changing--and changing rapidly. Greenland's ice sheet is melting; the dazzling, photogenic display of icebergs breaking off Greenland's rapidly melting glaciers has become a tourist attraction. The Fate of Greenland documents Greenland's warming with dramatic color photographs and investigates Greenland's climate history for clues about what happens when climate change is abrupt rather than gradual. Geological evidence suggests that Greenland has already been affected by two dramatic changes in climate: the Medieval Warm Period, when warm temperatures in Northern Europe enabled Norse exploration and settlements in Greenland; and the Little Ice Age that followed and apparently wiped out the settlements. Greenland's climate past and present could presage our climate future. Abrupt climate change would be cataclysmic: the melting of Greenland's ice shelf would cause sea levels to rise twenty-four feet worldwide; lower Manhattan would be underwater and Florida's coastline would recede to Orlando. The planet appears to be in a period of acute climate instability, exacerbated by carbon dioxide we pour into the atmosphere. As this book makes clear, it is in all of our interests to pay attention to Greenland.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: MIT Press
• Date d'édition: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0262015641
• ISBN 13: 9780262015646
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 232