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The Rough Guide to Climate Change 1 (Rough Guide Reference) ReviewThough small in size, this book is thorough and packedwith the latest information about climate change. The
margins are not overly generous. The typography is tight.
The binding is excellent, with informative fold-out
graphics on the front and back covers. A bargain price
for such a well-edited, well-researched and well-constructed book.
Although the book may be intended for the non-specialist,
I would recommend that all university students of
atmospheric sciences read this book. I will be
recommending this book as a supplementary text in
university courses -- a purpose probably not intended
for this sort of book. The book is not mathematical.
Nevertheless, many issues are raised that will invite
formal mathematical analysis in the classroom.
The book has some rough spots. Indeed the rough spots
provide the invitations for a mathematical re-examination.
page 16: "Even if we turned off every fuel-burning
machine on earth tomorrow, climate modellers tell us
that the world would warm at least another 0.5 C
(0.9 F) as oceans slowly release the heat they've
collected in recent decades." This should be stated as
"...as oceans slowly warm and adjust toward the new
radiative equilibrium state with higher greenhouse gas concentrations."
page 100: "Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases
tomorrow, we're committed to some amount of warming...as
the heat tucked away from the deep oceans gradually seeps
upward." This is the same mistake as on page 16. Even
with CO2 fixed at the current 380 ppmv the oceans and
atmosphere would warm for decades, with heat seeping
downward into the oceans. The warming will be caused by
more radiation entering the atmosphere than leaving.
Another way to repair the sentence is to state: "Even
if we returned greenhouse gases to preindustrial values
tomorrow, we're committed to elevated temperatures for
many decades...as the heat tucked away from the deep
ocean gradually seeps upward."
page 36: "...greenhouse gases carry several times more
punch when they are emitted at altitude". The word
should be "exist" rather than "emitted". The lifetime
of a CO2 molecule in the atmosphere is a "century" (p. 24).
And on page 29: "the gas should be well mixed throughout
Earth's atmosphere". On page 172: "Longer-lived greenhouse
gases, such as carbon dioxide, are thoroughly mixed across
the troposphere, both horizontally and vertically". For a
greenhouse gas molecule that will exist in the atmosphere
for 100 years, what difference does it make as to where
it was released?
page 166: "Nobody doubts the existence of the heat-island
effect, by which dense buildings and paved areas of cities
absorb heat and ricochet it through the the city air."
A more rigorous explanation of the heat-island effect is
warranted, preferably one that doesn't use the word
"ricochet", and one that uses energy balance principles.
The wikipedia has a decent summary of the physics.
page 172: "Since ozone absorbs sunlight, its partial loss
in the lower stratosphere for the last twenty years or so
has allowed temperatures there to plummet..". It would
be worthwhile to mention that declining tempertures in
the upper stratosphere are primarily attributable to
increasing carbon dioxide. The cooling is happening
right on schedule, and accord with our theories of
atmospheric radiation. Indeed, radiative energy balance
analysis (of the sort that exists in all climate models)
shows that a cooling of the stratosphere amplifies the
warming of the troposphere and surface.
page 304: "Hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element
on Earth...". Geology classes teach 34.6% Iron, 29.5% Oxygen,
15.2% Silicon, ... If we substitute "in the universe" for
"on Earth", the statement is true.The Rough Guide to Climate Change 1 (Rough Guide Reference) Overview
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