Paleoclimates Understanding Climate Change Past and Present

Textbook

By: Thomas M Cronin(Author)

441 pages, 26 halftones, 59 col illus, 62 line drawings, 22 tables

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Click to have a closer look

ISBN: 9780231144940 Hardback Dec 2009 Not in stock: Usually dispatched within 1 week
£91.99
#180769

Price: £91.99

About this book Contents Customer reviews Biography

Images Additional images

About this book

The field of palaeoclimatology draws on extensive empirical observations obtained from physical, chemical, and biological proxies preserved in natural archives. These include glacial ice, tree rings, sediments, corals, and stalactites and stalagmites, which reconstruct patterns and interpret causes of past climate change. From ocean sediment coring expeditions to multi-year ice sheet coring programs, paleoclimatologists go to great lengths to test the numerous theories and hypotheses concerning the causes of Earth's climate.

This book reviews state-of-the-art palaeoclimate research covering all geological timescales, with an emphasis on the implications of past climate changes for modern trends in Earth's climate. The text is geared specifically towards advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers within and outside of the immediate field of palaeoclimatology. Thomas M. Cronin covers empirical palaeo-records in significant detail, including detailed discussions of discoveries made over the last decade and their relationship to pressing controversies about climate change.

More than 3,000 citations and 150 graphics make this text the most comprehensive, up-to-date synthesis of palaeoclimatology available, each chapter featuring short summaries of landmark papers that caused paradigm shifts in the field.

List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1. Paleoclimatology and Modern Challenges
2. Methods in Paleoclimatology
3. Deep Time: Climate from 3.8 Billion to 65 Million Years Ago
4. Cenozoic Climate
5. Orbital Climate Change
6. Glacial Millennial Climate Change
7. Millennial Climate Events During Deglaciation
8. Holocene Climate Variability
9. Abrupt Climate Events
10. Internal Modes of Climate Variability
11. The Anthropocene I: Global and Hemispheric Temperature
12. The Anthropocene II: Climatic and Hydrological Change During the Last 2000 Years

Epilogue
Appendix: Paleoclimate Proxies
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Review this book

Biography

Thomas M. Cronin is an adjunct professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He is also a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia.

Textbook

By: Thomas M Cronin(Author)

441 pages, 26 halftones, 59 col illus, 62 line drawings, 22 tables

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Media reviews

"Sheds light on modern trends on modern trends in the Earth's climate."
– Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

"A promising overview of the science of paleoclimatology [...] recommended."
– Choice

"Everyone curious about the climate system, its history and current state of understanding [...] would be well-advised to acquire a copy of this erudite and elegantly written book."
– D.Q. Bowen, Quarternary Science Reviews

"I strongly recommend this book as essential background material for graduate students, an up-to-date review for researchers in the field and an important resource for anyone with a general interest in climatic change."
– Iain Robertson, The Holocene

"an excellent review and stimulating discussion of the state of art and current hot topics in this socio-economically important discipline to the scientific community of palaeoclimate researchers and students in this field."
– Polar Research

"There is much to be recommended, and the book will serve well in many libraries, both institutional and personal."
– A. Townsend Peterson, Quarterly Review of Biology