Global Warming

This topical textbook provides a bridge between technical and popular texts on global warming within the broader context of climate change. Written at an introductory level, it explains the interacting components of this system : what the greenhouse effect is; and how scientists seek to predict climate change. It makes accessible the technical and heavy science literature to the 'non-science' student. Global warming is one of the major environmental problems facing the world today. But it is an issue surrounded by great contention because it is based largely on scientific prediction and has yet to be proven. Opinion is divided regarding whether global warming will occur and, if it does, what the effects will be. In order to appreciate the uncertainties surrounding this issue, it is necessary to understand the workings of the climate system and the methods by which scientists seek to predict climate change. 'Global Warming' aims to make accessible the heavily technical literature to the non-science student, providing a bridge between the highly scientific and the popular non-academic texts. Placing global warming within the broader context of climate change, this textbook details the interacting components of the climatic system, reviewing the importance of changing carbon dioxide levels for the evolution of the Earth's atmosphere and climate. Utilising observed and modelled data, it presents the latest evidence for and against global warming whilst highlighting the difficulties involved with analysing both types of data and introducing areas of controversy within research. The book also addresses the important problem of making policy decisions for the future, based on the uncertain science of global warming.

Drake, Frances

Introduction; Chapter 1 Basic physical concepts; Chapter 2 The climate system; Chapter 3 Past greenhouses and icehouses; Chapter 4 Historical climate change; Chapter 5 The observational evidence for global warming; Chapter 6 The model evidence for global warming; Chapter 7 Indirect impacts and options for change; Chapter 8 The need for consensus;