
Is the Temperature Rising?
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In simple, nontechnical language, Philander describes how the interplay between familiar yet endlessly fascinating phenomena--winds and clouds, light and air, land and sea--maintains climates that permit a glorious diversity of fauna and flora to flourish on Earth. That interplay also creates such potent weather disrupters as El Niño and La Niña, translates modest fluctuations in sunlight into global climate changes as dramatic as the Ice Age, and determines the Earth's response to the gases we are discharging into the atmosphere, such as those that led to the ozone hole over Antarctica and those that are likely to cause global warming. In his discussion of these matters, Philander emphasizes that our planet is so complex that the scientific results will always have uncertainties. To continue to defer action on environmental problems, on the grounds that more accurate scientific results will soon be available, could lead to a crisis. To make wise decisions, it will help if the public is familiar with the geosciences, which explore the processes that make ours a habitable planet.
The book is an excellent introduction to the basics of the Earth's climate and weather, and will be an important contribution to the debate about climate change and the relationship between scientific knowledge and public affairs.
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Content
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- CONTENTS
- PREFACE
- PART ONE
- 1. Between the Idea and the Reality
- 2. Is Our Planet Fragile or Robust?
- PART TWO
- 3. Light and Air
- Earth, Mars, and Venus Compared
- The Scattering of Light
- The Radiation of Light
- The Absorption of Light
- Greenhouse Gases
- The Thermal Structure of the Atmosphere
- Aurora
- 4. Why the Peak of a Mountain Is Cold
- The "Height" of the Atmosphere
- Why Temperatures Decrease with Height
- The Second Law of Thermodynamics
- Atmospheric Pollution
- 5. Capricious Clouds
- Earth's Energy Budget
- The Hydrological Cycle
- Warm and Cold Fronts
- 6. The Climate Tapestry
- Mountain Winds
- Sea Breezes
- Monsoons
- The Hadley Circulation
- The Effects of Land-Sea Contrasts
- 7. Weather, the Music of Our Sphere
- Why There Is Weather
- Models of the Atmosphere
- Predicting the Weather
- The Storm of April Fool's Day 1997: A Case Study
- 8. The Ocean in Motion
- The Thermohaline Circulation
- The Wind-Driven Surface Currents
- Oceanic Weather
- 9. El Niño, La Niña, and the Southern Oscillation
- The Southern Oscillation
- Oceanic Adjustment
- Interactions between Ocean and Atmosphere
- Predicting El Niño
- Modulation of El Niño
- PART THREE
- 10. The Paradox of the Faint Sun but Warm Earth
- 11. Why Summer Is Warmer than Winter
- The Cycles of Seasons and of Ice Ages
- 12. The Ozone Hole, a Cautionary Tale
- The Ozone Hole over Antarctica
- Other Explanations for Ozone Depletion
- 13. Global Warming, Risky Business
- Points of Agreement
- Main Point of Contention
- Is Global Warming Evident Yet?
- What the Models Predict
- Epilogue
- APPENDIXES
- APPENDIX 1
- A1.1. Exponential Growth and Decay
- A1.2. Establishing a Chronology
- APPENDIX 2
- A2.1 Gaia
- A2.2. Chaos
- APPENDIX 3
- A3.1. Earthshine
- A3.2. The Scattering of Light
- A3.3. Blackbody Radiation
- A3.4. Effective Temperatures of the Planets
- A3.5. The Greenhouse Effect
- APPENDIX 4
- A4.1. The Scale Height of the Atmosphere
- A4.2. The Adiabatic Lapse Rate
- APPENDIX 5
- A5.1. Measuring Moisture in the Atmosphere
- A5.2. Earth's Energy Budget
- A5.3. How Many of Your Molecules Have Been to the Moon?
- APPENDIX 6
- A6.1. Conservation of Angular Momentum
- A6.2. The Coriolis Force
- A6.3. Shape of Earth
- A6.4. Gradient Winds
- APPENDIX 7
- A7.1. Predicting the Weather
- APPENDIX 8
- A8. 1. The Seasonal Thermocline
- A8.2. The Perpetual Salt Fountain
- APPENDIX 9
- El Niño, La Niña, and the Southern Oscillation
- APPENDIX 10
- A10.1. Weathering
- AI0.2. Properties of the Planets
- APPENDIX 11
- Earth's Sensitivity to Perturbations
- APPENDIX 12
- The Ozone Layer
- APPENDIX 13
- Global Warming
- GLOSSARY
- REFERENCES
- INDEX
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