Human Impacts on Weather and Climate / Edition 2

by William R. Cotton, Roger A. Pielke, Sr

Overview

This 2007 edition of Human Impacts on Weather and Climate examines the scientific and political debates surrounding anthropogenic impacts on the Earth's climate and presents the most recent theories, data and modeling studies. The book discusses the concepts behind deliberate human attempts to modify the weather through cloud seeding, as well as inadvertent modification of weather and climate on the regional scale. The natural variability of weather and climate greatly complicates our ability to determine a clear cause-and-effect relationship to human activity. The authors describe the basic theories and critique them in simple and accessible terms. This fully revised edition will be a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate courses in atmospheric and environmental science, and will also appeal to policy makers and general readers interested in how humans are affecting the global climate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521600569
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	332
Product dimensions:	6.89(w) x 9.65(h) x 0.67(d)

About the Author

William Cotton is a Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA).

Roger Pielke is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and a Senior Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also an Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University, served as Colorado State Climatologist from 1999 to 2006, and is on the Graduate Faculty of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. As well as this book, he has authored Mesoscale Meteorological Modeling (1984 and 2002), The Hurricane (1990), Hurricanes: Their Nature and Impacts on Society (1997, co-authored with R. A. Pielke, Jr), and was co-chief editor (with R. A. Pielke, Jr) of Storms (1999). He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society and a former co-chief editor of the Journal of Atmospheric Science. Dr Pielke has published over 350 papers in peer-reviewed journals, fifty chapters in books, and has co-edited nine books.

Table of Contents

Part I. The Rise and Fall of the Science of Weather Modification: 1. The rise of the science of weather modification; 2. The glory years of weather modification; 3. The fall of the science of weather modification; Part II. Inadvertent Human Impacts on Regional Weather and Climate: 4. Anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and gases; 5. Urban-induced changes in precipitation and weather; 6. Other land-use/land-cover changes; 7. Concluding remarks; 8. Overview of global climate forcings and feedbacks; 9. Climatic effects and anthropogenic aerosols; 10. Nuclear winter; 11. Global effects of land-use/land-cover changes and vegetation dynamics; Epilogue; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Eleven years ago, I reviewed the first edition of this title, labeling it a 'comprehensive, well-written, and highly interesting book.' This second edition deserves the same labels, and furthermore it updates all activities and aspects of human impacts on weather and climate. It has many excellent illustrations, with some in color. I strongly recommend this book to all atmospheric scientists—it will serve as an excellent textbook." - Stanley A. Changnon, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

From the Publisher