Weather and climate are not the same. Weather is what occurs outdoors on a daily basis and is unpredictable from one week to the next, whereas climate follows a stable pattern that is developed over centuries. The planet is divided into climate zones-tropical, temperate and polar-based on temperature differences with distance from the equator where the sun is most intense and temperature affects humidity, precipitation, cloudiness and wind. To understand what drives our climate, scientists study the atmosphere, the oceans, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. 30-Second Climate is an immediately accessible guide to the 50 key factors affecting Earth's climate, past, present and future, each explained in half a minute. From atmospheric circulation to zero carbon, this is the quickest way to know your planet.
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Sprache
Verlagsort
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Höhe: 4953 mm
Breite: 3810 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78240-800-0 (9781782408000)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Joanna D. Haigh CBE FRS is Professor of Atmospheric Physics and co-Director of the Grantham Institute (Climate Change and the Environment) at Imperial College London. She has been fascinated by weather since childhood and has been lucky enough to follow a career in meteorology. Her particular expertise is in how solar and heat radiation interact with the atmosphere and in the physics of climate change.
Foreword
Introduction by Joanna Haigh
Chapter 1 Earth's Climate System
Glossary
1 Climate components
2 Global circulation of the atmosphere
3 Global circulation of the oceans
4 Climate types (classification)
PROFILE Wladimir Koeppen
5 Air masses & fronts
6 Climate patterns
Chapter 2 Heating & Cooling
Glossary
7 Earth radiation balance
8 Solar radiation
PROFILE John Tyndall
9 Heat radiation & greenhouse effect
10 Effect of clouds & particles
11 Heating rates & temperatures
12 Temperature cycles - diurnal/seasonal
Chapter 3 Water
Glossary
13 Hydrological cycle
14 Water vapour/humidity
15 Clouds & storms
16 Precipitation
PROFILE Stepan Makarov
17 Deserts
18 Sea Ice
19 Glaciers & Ice sheets
Chapter 4 Life & Biogeochemical Cycles
Glossary
20 Biosphere
21 Ecosystems
22 Forests
23 Microclimates
24 Urban climate
PROFILE Charles David Keeling
25 Carbon budget
Chapter 5 Observations & Modelling
Glossary
26 Weather stations
27 Satellites
28 Balloons, aircraft & rockets
29 Climate models
PROFILE Syukuro Manabe
30 Data collation
31 Data curation
Chapter 6 Changing Climate
Glossary
32 Paleoclimate
33 Solar effects
34 Volcanic effects
35 Global warming (greenhouse gases)
PROFILE Guy Stewart Callendar
36 Climate forcing factors & radiative forcing
37 Climate sensitivity
38 Extreme events
39 Sea level
40 Ocean acidity
41 Impact on natural systems
42 Impact on human systems
Chapter 7 Mitigation
Glossary
43 Climate predictions
44 Towards zero carbon (mitigation overview)
45 Energy generation
46 Nuclear energy
47 Transmission & storage of energy
48 Consumption (food, energy)
PROFILE IPCC
49 Geoengineering
50 International collaboration
Resources
Notes on Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
