The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System

The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System
Author: Kevin E. Trenberth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2022-01-13
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1108838863

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Elegant, novel explanation of climate change, emphasizing physical understanding and concepts, while avoiding complex mathematics, supported by excellent color illustrations.

The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System

The Changing Flow of Energy Through the Climate System
Author: Kevin E. Trenberth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2022-01-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108985319

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Kevin E. Trenberth emphasizes the fundamental role of energy flows in the climate system and anthropogenic climate change. The distribution of heat, or more generally, energy, is the main determinant of weather patterns in the atmosphere and their impacts. The topics addressed cover many facets of climate and the climate crisis. These include the diurnal cycle; the seasons; energy differences between the continents and the oceans, the poles and the tropics; interannual variability such as Niño; natural decadal variability; and ice ages. Human-induced climate change rides on and interacts with all of these natural phenomena, and the result is an unevenly warming planet and changing weather extremes. The book emphasizes the need to not only slow or stop climate change, but also to better prepare for it and build resilience. Students, researchers, and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds will benefit from this deeper understanding of climate change.

Climate Change

Climate Change
Author: The Royal Society
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 74
Release: 2014-02-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309302021

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Climate Change: Evidence and Causes is a jointly produced publication of The US National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society. Written by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists and reviewed by climate scientists and others, the publication is intended as a brief, readable reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and other individuals seeking authoritative information on the some of the questions that continue to be asked. Climate Change makes clear what is well-established and where understanding is still developing. It echoes and builds upon the long history of climate-related work from both national academies, as well as on the newest climate-change assessment from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It touches on current areas of active debate and ongoing research, such as the link between ocean heat content and the rate of warming.

Climate Analysis

Climate Analysis
Author: Chester F. Ropelewski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108573371

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Sensational images and stories about variations in Earth's climate and their impacts on society are pervasive in the media. The scientific basis for these stories is often not understood by the general public, nor even by those with a scientific background in fields other than climate science. This book is a comprehensive resource that will enable the reader to understand and appreciate the significance of the flood of climate information. It is an excellent non-mathematical resource for learning the fundamentals of climate analysis, as well as a reference for non-climate experts that need to use climate information and data. The focus is on the basics of the climate system, how climate is observed and how the observations are transformed into datasets useful for monitoring the climate. Each chapter contains Discussion Questions. This is an invaluable textbook on climate analysis for advanced students, and a reference textbook for researchers and practitioners.

Energy Flows, Material Cycles and Global Development

Energy Flows, Material Cycles and Global Development
Author: Georg Schaub
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2010-12-13
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3642127363

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The book deals with the global flows of energy and materials, and changes caused by human activities. Based on these facts, the limitations of anthropogenic energy and material flows and the resulting consequences for the development of human societies are discussed. Different scenarios for lifestyle patterns are correlated with the world ́s future development of energy supply and climate. The book provides a process engineering approach to the Earth system and global development. It requires basic understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology, and provides an insight into the complex matter for readers ranging from undergraduate students to experts.

Energy and Water Cycles in the Climate System

Energy and Water Cycles in the Climate System
Author: Ehrhard Raschke
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 469
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642769578

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Water is the most effective agent in the climate system to modulate energy transfer by radiative processes, through its exchanges of latent heat and within cascades of chemical processes. It is the source of all life on earth, and once convective clouds are formed, it enables large vertical transports of momentum, heat and various atmospheric constituents up to levels above the tropical tropopause. Water triggers very complex processes at the earth's continental surfaces and within the oceans. At last, water in its gaseous phase is the most important greenhouse-gas! Numerical modelling and measurements of the state of the present climate system needs a very thorough understanding of all these processes and their various interactions and forcings. This is a prerequisite for more substantial forecasts of future states in all scales of time, from days to centuries. Therefore, the management of the World Climate Research Programme established in 1988 the new programme GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment). GEWEX is specifically defined to determine the energy and water transports in the fast components of the climate system with the presently available modelling and measurement means and to provide new capabilities for the future. Research in GEWEX must further develop methods to determine the influence of climatic anomalies on available water resources.

Demystifying Climate Models

Demystifying Climate Models
Author: Andrew Gettelman
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2016-04-09
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3662489597

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This book demystifies the models we use to simulate present and future climates, allowing readers to better understand how to use climate model results. In order to predict the future trajectory of the Earth’s climate, climate-system simulation models are necessary. When and how do we trust climate model predictions? The book offers a framework for answering this question. It provides readers with a basic primer on climate and climate change, and offers non-technical explanations for how climate models are constructed, why they are uncertain, and what level of confidence we should place in them. It presents current results and the key uncertainties concerning them. Uncertainty is not a weakness but understanding uncertainty is a strength and a key part of using any model, including climate models. Case studies of how climate model output has been used and how it might be used in the future are provided. The ultimate goal of this book is to promote a better understanding of the structure and uncertainties of climate models among users, including scientists, engineers and policymakers.

Global Environmental Change

Global Environmental Change
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 621
Release: 1999-09-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309174325

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How can we understand and rise to the environmental challenges of global change? One clear answer is to understand the science of global change, not solely in terms of the processes that control changes in climate and the composition of the atmosphere, but in how ecosystems and human society interact with these changes. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, a number of such research effortsâ€"supported by computer and satellite technologyâ€"have been launched. Yet many opportunities for integration remain unexploited, and many fundamental questions remain about the earth's capacity to support a growing human population. This volume encourages a renewed commitment to understanding global change and sets a direction for research in the decade ahead. Through case studies the book explores what can be learned from the lessons of the past 20 years and what are the outstanding scientific questions. Highlights include: Research imperatives and strategies for investigators in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, climate, ecosystem studies, and human dimensions of global change. The context of climate change, including lessons to be gleaned from paleoclimatology. Human responses toâ€"and forcing ofâ€"projected global change. This book offers a comprehensive overview of global change research to date and provides a framework for answering urgent questions.

Observing and Modeling Earth's Energy Flows

Observing and Modeling Earth's Energy Flows
Author: Lennart Bengtsson
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012-12-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789400743274

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This book provides a comprehensive presentation of Earth’s energy flows and their consequences for the climate. The Earth’s climate as well as planetary climates in general, are broadly controlled by three fundamental parameters: the solar irradiance, the planetary albedo and the planetary emissivity. Space measurements indicate that these three quantities are remarkably stable. A minor decrease in planetary emissivity is consistent with theoretical calculations. This is due to the ongoing increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases making the atmosphere more opaque to long wave terrestrial radiation. As a consequence radiation processes are slightly out of balance as less heat is leaving the Earth in the form of thermal radiation than the incoming amount of heat from the sun. Present space-based systems cannot yet satisfactorily measure this imbalance, but the effect can be inferred from the measurements of the increase of heat in the oceans. Minor amounts of heat are also used to melt ice and to warm the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth. The book brings to fore the complexity of feedback processes of the Earth’s climate system and in particular the way clouds and aerosols affect the energy balance both directly and indirectly through feed-back loops driven by the dynamics of atmospheric, ocean and land surface processes. The book highlights recent scientific progress as well as remaining challenges. Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 33, Nos. 3-4, 2012

Radiative Forcing of Climate Change

Radiative Forcing of Climate Change
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2005-03-25
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309133505

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Changes in climate are driven by natural and human-induced perturbations of the Earth's energy balance. These climate drivers or "forcings" include variations in greenhouse gases, aerosols, land use, and the amount of energy Earth receives from the Sun. Although climate throughout Earth's history has varied from "snowball" conditions with global ice cover to "hothouse" conditions when glaciers all but disappeared, the climate over the past 10,000 years has been remarkably stable and favorable to human civilization. Increasing evidence points to a large human impact on global climate over the past century. The report reviews current knowledge of climate forcings and recommends critical research needed to improve understanding. Whereas emphasis to date has been on how these climate forcings affect global mean temperature, the report finds that regional variation and climate impacts other than temperature deserve increased attention.