Time is a major factor in Quaternary science. Without a trustworthy chronometer any interpretation of changes in proxy data of stratigraphical origin is on weak ground. In fact, any attempt at a sound reconstruction of timing and rates of past climatic change as well as the response of the biosphere can only be achieved on the basis of a reliable chronology. Moreover, all correlations and comparisons through time on a continental or global scale depend heavily on the reliability of the time-scale used. Therefore the establishment of an absolute time-scale is a fundamental goal. In this...

This book is a natural extension of the SCOPE (Scientific Committee of Problems on the Environment) volumes on the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S) biogeochemical cycles and their interactions (Likens, 1981; Bolin and Cook, 1983). Substantial progress in the knowledge of these cycles has been made since publication of those volumes. In particular, the nature and extent of biological and inorganic interactions between these cycles have been identified, positive and negative feedbacks recognized and the relationship between the cycles and global environmental change...

Understanding global environmental change and predicting the consequences of global environmental variability are becoming increasingly important to the nations of the world. Global change is now on the agenda of world leaders, a substantial number of whom are deeply concerned with the potential economic, social and political consequences of human-induced variabilities in the climate system and other aspects of global environmental change. Uncertainty of scientific knowledge of global and regional processes and the limited ability of science to predict the behavior of the Earth system are of...

Some 115 thousand years ago the world as we know it today shifted into a much colder glacial mode which culminated with huge ice sheets reaching as far south as New York, Berlin and St. Petersburg. The numerical climate models, used to predict the next century climate, were as yet unable to explain what happened. The reader of the book gains a detailed picture of what is known on the most important episodes of the past climate history, what to expect during the transition into a glacial climate mode, and which aspects and elements of the climate system seem mostsusceptible to change. The...

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...

It has been known for some time that the behavior of the short-term fluctuations of the earth's atmosphere resembles that of a chaotic non-linear dynamical system, and that the day-to-day weather cannot be predicted beyond a few weeks. However, it has also been found that the interactions of the atmosphere with the underlying oceans and the land surfaces can produce fluctuations whose time scales are much longer than the limits of deterministic prediction of weather. It is, therefore, natural to ask whether it is possible that the seasonal and longer time averages of climate fluctuations can...

The Arctic troposphere (0 to ca. 8 km) plays an important role in environmental concerns for global change. It is a unique chemical reactor influenced by human activity and the Arctic ocean. It is surrounded by industrialized continents that in winter contribute gaseous and particulate pollution (Arctic haze). It is underlain by the flat Arctic ocean from which it is separated by a crack-ridden ice membrane 3 to 4 m thick. Ocean to atmosphere exchange of heat, water vapor and marine biogenic gases influence the composition of the reactor. From September 21 to December 21 to March 21, the...

Scientists concerned with the processes occurring in the stratosphere are becoming more and more aware of the role that the stratosphere may play in the global climate and in global change in general. This book focuses on the basic processes taking place in the stratosphere and on the stratospheric changes which may occur from either natural or anthropogenic forcing. Of major concern here is the consequence of the increasing Antarctic Ozone Hole and the possibility of similar processes occurring at northern latitudes. One of the expected consequences of the change in the stratospheric...

Books dealing with climatic change are commonplace, as are those concerned with effects of environmental stresses on plants. The present volume distinguishes itself from earlier publications by highlighting several interrelated environmental stresses that are changing in intensity as the climate warms in response to the accumulation of 'greenhouse' gases. The stresses examined at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop upon which this book is based include atmospheric pollutants, flooding and sub mergence, drought and cold. In future, successful farming or landscape management will ultimately...

Do changes in stratospheric ozone relate to changes in UV-B irradiance and do both relate to life on Earth? This volume presents the latest data available in the basic scientific disciplines associated with these questions. The key topics are the interactive factors between the various research elements and the measurements needed to both validate ozone depletion and monitor UV flux changes in the biosphere.