Heaven and Earth Global Warming, the Missing Science
by Plimer, IanFormat: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2009-07-16
Publisher(s): Taylor Trade Publishing
Other versions by this Author
List Price: $23.05
Buy New
Special Order. We will make every effort to obtain this item but cannot guarantee stock or timing.
$21.95
Rent Book
Select for Price
Used Book
We're Sorry
Sold Out
eBook
We're Sorry
Not Available
How Marketplace Works:
- This item is offered by an independent seller and not shipped from our warehouse
- Item details like edition and cover design may differ from our description; see seller's comments before ordering.
- Sellers much confirm and ship within two business days; otherwise, the order will be cancelled and refunded.
- Marketplace purchases cannot be returned to eCampus.com. Contact the seller directly for inquiries; if no response within two days, contact customer service.
- Additional shipping costs apply to Marketplace purchases. Review shipping costs at checkout.
Summary
Climate, Sea Level, And Ice Sheets Have Always Changed, and the changes observed today are less than those of the past. Climate changes are cyclical and are driven by Earth's position in the galaxy, the Sun, wobbles in Earth's orbit, ocean currents, and plate tectonics. In previous times, atmospheric carbon dioxide was far higher than at present but did not drive climate change. No runaway greenhouse effect or acid oceans occurred during times of excessively high carbon dioxide. During past glaciations, carbon dioxide was higher than it is today. The non-scientific popular political view is that humans change climate. Do we have reason for concern about possible human-induced climate change?
Author Biography
Ian Plimer, twice winner of Australia's highest scientific honor, the Eureka Prize, is professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Adelaide and is author of six other books written for the general public in addition to more than 120 scientific papers.
Table of Contents
| Introduction | p. 9 |
| Climate | p. 10 |
| Carbon dioxide and pollution | p. 12 |
| The science of climate | p. 14 |
| Why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? | p. 17 |
| Climate change | p. 23 |
| A retreat to the good old days | p. 27 |
| Acknowledgements | p. 28 |
| History | p. 30 |
| Are the speed and amount of modern climate change unprecedented? | |
| Is dangerous warming occurring? | |
| Is the temperature range observed in the 20th Century outside the range of normal variability? | |
| Our changing climates | p. 32 |
| The last great warming | p. 35 |
| The last big freeze | p. 37 |
| The end of the freeze | p. 40 |
| The Roman Warming (250 BC-450 AD) | p. 59 |
| The Dark Ages (535-900 AD) | p. 61 |
| The Medieval Warming (900-1300 AD) | p. 63 |
| The Little Ice Age (1280-1850 AD) | p. 72 |
| The Late 20th Century Warming (1850 AD to the present) | p. 86 |
| The long tale of the lone pine | p. 87 |
| The Sun | p. 100 |
| Does the Sun influence the Earth's climate? | |
| The bringer of life, heat and cold | p. 101 |
| Dirt in the air | p. 102 |
| Snowballs and spiral arms | p. 105 |
| Galactic time travel | p. 106 |
| Galactic bullets | p. 109 |
| The engine of weather | p. 112 |
| That big ball of heat in the sky | p. 115 |
| Angry solar emissions | p. 116 |
| Inner turbulence of the Sun | p. 119 |
| Shock, horror. The solar constant is not constant | p. 121 |
| Blemishes on her beauty | p. 125 |
| Water, carbon dioxide, temperature and the Sun | p. 130 |
| Ancient signals of solar activity | p. 133 |
| The Sun and climate | p. 144 |
| Earth | p. 148 |
| Do volcanoes change climate? | |
| Do wobbles in the Earth's orbit change climate? | |
| Have past climate changes driven extinctions? | |
| Life on Earth | p. 149 |
| Single celled life | p. 149 |
| What are the chances of multicellular life on Earth? | p. 160 |
| The biggest climate change of all time | p. 165 |
| The first multicellular life | p. 170 |
| The explosion of life | p. 171 |
| Extinction | p. 175 |
| Minor and major mass extinctions of life | p. 175 |
| Recent macrofauna extinction | p. 188 |
| Modern climate change and extinction | p. 191 |
| Global warming and infectious diseases | p. 199 |
| Desertification | p. 203 |
| One volcano can ruin your whole day | p. 207 |
| Supervolcanoes | p. 211 |
| Volcanic gases | p. 216 |
| Ice, volcanoes and earthquakes | p. 225 |
| Milankovitch wobble theory wobbles | p. 229 |
| Ice | p. 236 |
| Is global warming melting the polar ice caps and alpine valley glaciers? | |
| Ice | p. 237 |
| Ice ages | p. 239 |
| Ice advance and retreat | p. 243 |
| The Arctic | p. 257 |
| The Antarctic | p. 267 |
| Alpine valley glaciers | p. 281 |
| Sea ice | p. 287 |
| Water | p. 292 |
| Do human emissions of carbon dioxide create a rise in the sea level? | |
| Will the seas become acid? | |
| Does sea level rise kill coral atolls? | |
| Are humans forcing changes in ocean currents? | |
| Weird water | p. 294 |
| The great flood | p. 296 |
| Sea level | p. 298 |
| Coral atolls | p. 318 |
| Dissolved carbon dioxide in seawater | p. 323 |
| Acid oceans | p. 331 |
| Sea surface temperature | p. 339 |
| El Nino | p. 350 |
| Water cycle | p. 360 |
| The rock that made a fool out of humans | p. 362 |
| Air | p. 364 |
| Do thermometer measurements show the planet is warming? | |
| Do other temperature measurements show the planet is warming? | |
| Is atmospheric carbon dioxide increasing? | |
| Is atmospheric carbon dioxide approaching a dangerous level? | |
| Do higher sea temperatures cause more hurricanes? | |
| Do clouds influence climate? | |
| The greenhouse effect | p. 365 |
| The measurement of temperature | p. 376 |
| Measurement and order of accuracy | p. 376 |
| Treatment of data | p. 382 |
| Urban heat island effect | p. 384 |
| Temperature proxies | p. 393 |
| Hurricanes | p. 405 |
| Carbon dioxide | p. 411 |
| The global carbon cycle | p. 411 |
| Measurement of CO2 | p. 416 |
| Methane and other greenhouse gases | p. 428 |
| Clouds | p. 432 |
| Et moi | p. 435 |
| Ubi dubium ibi libertas | p. 435 |
| The vernalisation of science | p. 441 |
| Tip of the iceberg | p. 446 |
| Scientific consensus | p. 449 |
| The end is nigh | p. 456 |
| Religion, environmentalism and romanticism | p. 462 |
| The Kyoto Protocol | p. 471 |
| Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear | p. 472 |
| What if I'm wrong? | p. 489 |
| Index | p. 494 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.
This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.
By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.
Digital License
You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.
More details can be found here.
A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.
Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.
Please view the compatibility matrix prior to purchase.