A gripping journey through the icy regions of our changing planetFrom the Arctic Ocean and ice sheets of Greenland, to the glaciers of the Andes and Himalayas, to the great frozen desert of Antarctica, The White Planet takes readers on a spellbinding scientific journey through the shrinking world of ice and snow to tell the story of the expeditions and discoveries that have transformed our understanding of global climate. Written by three internationally r...

_________________'A superbly crafted, diligently compressed vision of a world spiralling towards destruction' - Observer'Kolbert mesmerises with her poetic cadence in this riveting view of the apocalypse already upon us' - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'The most frightening book I've read this century' - Times Literary Supplement_________________Eli...

The Precambrian is the oldest era of Earth's history, and, of its origins (4 billion and 500 million years ago), the appearance of the first invertebrates with exoskeletons (542 million years ago). In this long period of time, the planet, newly formed, was affected by cosmic events and geological shocking that border on the limits of imagination.

Sea level rise will happen no matter what we do. Even if we stopped all carbon dioxide emissions today, the seas would rise one meter by 2050 and three meters by 2100. This -- not drought, species extinction, or excessive heat waves -- will be the most catastrophic effect of global warming. And it won't simply redraw our coastlines -- agriculture, electrical and fiber optic systems, and shipping will be changed forever. As icebound regions melt, new sources of oil, gas, minerals, and arabl...

In this wide-ranging Very Short Introduction to climate, Mark Maslin considers all aspects of the global climate system, exploring and explaining the different components that control climate on Earth. He considers the processes that allow energy to reach the Earth and how it is redistributed around the planet by the ocean-atmosphere system; the relationship and differences between climate and the weather; how climate has affected life on Earth and human settlements; and the cycli...

The world's oceans account for roughly 71 percent of the planet's surface and 99 percent of its livable volume. Any study of this huge habitat requires a solid foundation in the principles that underlie marine biology and physical and chemical oceanography, yet until now undergraduate textbooks have largely presented compilations of facts rather than explanations of principles. How the Ocean Works fills this gap, providing a concise and accessible college-level introduction to mar...

An incredible wealth of scientific data on global warming has been collected in the last few decades. The history of the Earth's climate has been probed by drilling into polar ice sheets and sediment layers of the oceans' vast depths, and great advances have been made in computer modelling of our climate. This book provides a concise and accessible overview of what we know about ongoing climate change and its impacts, and what we can do to confront the climate crisis. Using clear and simpl...

Climate change is a major topic of concern today, scientifically, socially, and politically. It will undoubtedly continue to be so for the foreseeable future, as predicted changes in global temperatures, rainfall, and sea level take place, and as human society adapts to these changes. In this remarkable new work, Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams demonstrate how the Earth's climate has continuously altered over its 4.5 billion-year history. The story can be read from clues preserved in the...

Scientists have delved deep into the smallest particles of matter and have extended their view to the far reaches of the universe, but still seem unable to predict the temperature five days hence. In this intriguing book, two scientists examine recent progress in the fields of meteorology and climatology. Amid colorful anecdotes of the Galapagos, Siberia, and places closer to home, they describe the earth's atmosphere, its origin and structure, and the forces that have shaped and continue ...

This textbook provides a modern, quantitative and process-oriented approach to equip students with the tools to understand geomorphology. Insight into the interpretation of landscapes is developed from basic principles and simple models, and by stepping through the equations that capture the essence of the mechanics and chemistry of landscapes. Boxed worked examples and real-world applications bring the subject to life for students, allowing them to apply the theory to their own experience...

The Earth's climate is already warming due to increased concentrations of human-produced greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and the specter of rising sea level is one of global warming's most far-reaching threats. Sea level will keep rising long after greenhouse gas emissions have ceased, because of the delay in penetration of surface warming to the ocean depths and because of the slow dissipation of excess atmospheric carbon dioxide. Adopting a long perspective that interprets sea level ...

This book is a thorough introduction to climate science and global change. The author is a geologist who has spent much of his life investigating the climate of Earth from a time when it was warm and dinosaurs roamed the land, to today's changing climate. Bill Hay takes you on a journey to understand how the climate system works. He explores how humans are unintentionally conducting a grand uncontrolled experiment which is leading to unanticipated changes. We follow the twisting path of se...