Global Climate: Current Research and Uncertainties in the Climate System

ISBN-13: 9783642078569 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 286 str.

Xavier Rodo; Francisco Comin

Opis

Uncertainty for Everyone The one thing that is certain about the world is that the world is uncertain. I have here, the question that apart of the matter, living matter, has to resolve in each and every one of its moments of existance. The environment of a living being is apart of the living being where it turns out, the rest of the living beings live. This is the drama of life on earth. Every living individual debates with his environment, exchanging matter, energy and information in the hope of staying alive, the same as all living beings who share that same environment. The adven ture of a living being (of all living beings ) is to maintain reasonable independ ence in face ofthe fluctuations ofuncertainty within the environment. The range of restrictions and mutual relationships is colossal. How is the tran seendental pretension of staying alive regulated? There is an equation imposed by the laws ofthermodynamics and the mathematical theory ofinformation about the interaction ofa living being with his environment which we could state like this: The complexity 01 a living individual plus his capacity for anticipation in re spect to his environment is identical to the uncertainty of the environmentplus the capacity of that living being to change the environment."

Recenzje

From the reviews:

"The book comprises 11 essays in 2 parts written by a total of 13 authors. The rational for editing another collection on the basic problems of our climate system is the dramatic change that climate research has undergone in the last decade. ... The book reaches its goal in that a couple of hot spots are identified and professionally discussed ... . it is a valuable voice in the growing global choir of climate researchers who seek for a consensus ... ." (M. Hantel, Meteorologische Zeitschrift, Vol. 14 (1), 2005)

"This book provides detailed views of 'hot spots' in the dynamics of our climate system. The eleven chapters are well written by international experts in different areas. The aim of the book is to give a brief overview of recent advances in climate research ... . The book is very readable and provides information overviews and glimpses that serve as appetizers to a wide range of environmental-science topics with great relevance to understanding past, present, and future climates." (Derek Winstanley, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, January, 2004)

Spis treści

I:.- 1 What we know about the Climate System? A brief review of current research.- 2 Why Global Warming Is A Controversial Issue.- 3 El Niño: A Predictable Climate Fluctuation.- 4 Climate Information Systems and Their Applications.- II:.- 5 An Introduction to Ocean Climate Modeling.- 6 An Introduction to Linear Predictability Analysis.- 7 Carbon Cycling over Lands and Oceans.- 8 Changes in the Global Carbon Cycle and Ocean Circulation on the Millennial Time Scale.- 9 Understanding Future Climate Change Using Paleorecords.- 10 The Indian Monsoon and its Relation to Global Climate Variability.- 11 Interactions between the Tropics and Extratropics. A bit on theory, results and prospects for future predictability.