Paleoclimates: Understanding Climate Change Past and Present

by Thomas Cronin

Overview

The field of paleoclimatology relies on physical, chemical, and biological proxies of past climate changes that have been preserved in natural archives such as glacial ice, tree rings, sediments, corals, and speleothems. Paleoclimate archives obtained through field investigations, ocean sediment coring expeditions, ice sheet coring programs, and other projects allow scientists to reconstruct climate change over much of earth's history.

When combined with computer model simulations, paleoclimatic reconstructions are used to test hypotheses about the causes of climatic change, such as greenhouse gases, solar variability, earth's orbital variations, and hydrological, oceanic, and tectonic processes. This book is a comprehensive, state-of-the art synthesis of paleoclimate research covering all geological timescales, emphasizing topics that shed light on modern trends in the earth's climate. Thomas M. Cronin discusses recent discoveries about past periods of global warmth, changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, abrupt climate and sea-level change, natural temperature variability, and other topics directly relevant to controversies over the causes and impacts of climate change. This text is geared toward advanced undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in geology, geography, biology, glaciology, oceanography, atmospheric sciences, and climate modeling, fields that contribute to paleoclimatology. This volume can also serve as a reference for those requiring a general background on natural climate variability.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231144940
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	11/09/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 11.00(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Dr. Thomas Cronin is a Research Geologist at the United States Geological Survey. He specializes in North American estuaries, Arctic Ocean paleoclimate records, North Atlantic paleoceanography, Cenozoic stratigraphy and climate, Quaternary sea level changes, and estuaries and human and climatic impact.

Table of Contents

List of Tables
Preface
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
1. Paleoclimatology and Modern Challenges
2. Methods in Paleoclimatology
3. Deep Time: Climate from 3.8 Billion to 65 Million Years Ago
4. Cenozoic Climate
5. Orbital Climate Change
6. Glacial Millennial Climate Change
7. Millennial Climate Events Durgaing Deglaciation
8. Holocene Climate Variability
9. Abrupt Climate Events
10. Internal Modes of Climate Variability
11. The Anthropocene I: Global and Hemispheric Temperature
12. The Anthropocene II: Climatic and Hydrological Change Durgaing the Last 2000 Years
Epilogue
Appendix: Paleoclimate Proxies
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

Tom Johnson

Paleoclimates is a most useful reference. Thomas M. Cronin's command of such a broad scope is impressive.

— Tom Johnson, University of Minnesota, Duluth

Benjamin P. Flower

Encyclopedic in its coverage, Paleoclimates features a truly incredible breadth of topics.

— Benjamin P. Flower, University of South Florida

Editorial Reviews

I strongly recommend this book as essential background material for graduate students, an up-to-date review for researchers in the field and an important resource for anyone with a general interest in climatic change.

The Holocene - Iain Robertson

There is much to be recommended, and the book will serve well in many libraries, both institutional and personal.

Quaterly Review of Biology - A. Townsend Peterson

A promising overview of the science of paleoclimatology... recommended.

Choice

Everyone curious about the climate system, its history and current state of understanding... would be well-advised to acquire a copy of this erudite and elegantly written book.

Quarternary Science Reviews - D.Q. Bowen

Sheds light on modern trends on modern trends in the Earth's climate.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

an excellent review and stimulating discussion of the state of art and current hot topics in this socio-economically important discipline to the scientific community of palaeoclimate researchers and students in this field.

Polar Research

There is much to be recommended, and the book will serve well in many libraries, both institutional and personal.

— A. Townsend Peterson

Quaterly Review of Biology

Everyone curious about the climate system, its history and current state of understanding... would be well-advised to acquire a copy of this erudite and elegantly written book.

— D.Q. Bowen

Quarternary Science Reviews

I strongly recommend this book as essential background material for graduate students, an up-to-date review for researchers in the field and an important resource for anyone with a general interest in climatic change.

— Iain Robertson

The Holocene