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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > General
Developing Ecological Consciousness is a unique environmental studies textbook. Rather than working through a list of environmental problems like many textbooks on the subject, the book aims to help students awake to the awe and wonder of our planet, begin to understand some of the challenges facing it, and explore possibilities for action and change. As the reviews show, the book is adopted across disciplines, including environmental studies, biology, sociology, political science, and more.
Various effects of the atmosphere have to be considered in space geodesy and all of them are described and treated consistently in this textbook. Two chapters are concerned with ionospheric and tropospheric path delays of microwave and optical signals used by space geodetic techniques, such as the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), or Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR). It is explained how these effects are best reduced and modelled to improve the accuracy of space geodetic measurements. Other chapters are on the deformation of the Earth's crust due to atmospheric loading, on atmospheric excitation of Earth rotation, and on atmospheric effects on gravity field measurements from special satellite missions such as CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE. All chapters have been written by staff members of the Department of Geodesy and Geoinformation at TU Wien who are experts in the particular fields.
This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the field of thermal infrared remote sensing. Temperature is one of the most important physical environmental variables monitored by earth observing remote sensing systems. Temperature ranges define the boundaries of habitats on our planet. Thermal hazards endanger our resources and well-being. In this book renowned international experts have contributed chapters on currently available thermal sensors as well as innovative plans for future missions. Further chapters discuss the underlying physics and image processing techniques for analyzing thermal data. Ground-breaking chapters on applications present a wide variety of case studies leading to a deepened understanding of land and sea surface temperature dynamics, urban heat island effects, forest fires, volcanic eruption precursors, underground coal fires, geothermal systems, soil moisture variability, and temperature-based mineral discrimination. 'Thermal Infrared Remote Sensing: Sensors, Methods, Applications' is unique because of the large field it spans, the potentials it reveals, and the detail it provides. This book is an indispensable volume for scientists, lecturers, and decision makers interested in thermal infrared technology, methods, and applications.
Our knowledge of Mars has changed dramatically in the past 40 years due to the wealth of information provided by Earth-based and orbiting telescopes, and spacecraft investigations. Recent observations suggest that water has played a major role in the climatic and geologic history of the planet. This textbook covers our understanding of the planet's formation, geology, atmosphere, interior, surface properties, and potential for life. This interdisciplinary textbook encompasses the fields of geology, chemistry, atmospheric sciences, geophysics, and astronomy. Each chapter introduces the necessary background information to help the non-specialist understand the topics explored. It includes results from missions through 2006, including the latest insights from Mars Express and the Mars Exploration Rovers. Containing the most up-to-date information on Mars, this textbook is essential reading for graduate courses, and an important reference for researchers.
This book presents in a concise way the Mie theory and its current applications. It begins with an overview of current theories, computational methods, experimental techniques, and applications of optics of small particles. There is also some biographic information on Gustav Mie, who published his famous paper on the colour of Gold colloids in 1908. The Mie solution for the light scattering of small spherical particles set the basis for more advanced scattering theories and today there are many methods to calculate light scattering and absorption for practically any shape and composition of particles. The optics of small particles is of interest in industrial, atmospheric, astronomic and other research. The book covers the latest developments in divers fields in scattering theory such as plasmon resonance, multiple scattering and optical force.
Agroforestry, the word coined in early seventies, has made its place in all the developed and the developing countries of the world and is now recognized as an important approach to ensuring food security and rebuilding resilient rural environments. India has been an all-time leader in agroforestry. The South and Southeast Asia region comprising India is often described as the cradle of agroforestry. Almost all forms of agroforestry systems exist across India in ecozones ranging from humid tropical lowlands to high-altitude and temperate biomes, and perhumid rainforest zones to parched drylands. The country ranks foremost among the community of nations not only in terms of this enormous diversity and long tradition of the practice of agroforestry, but also in fostering scientific developments in the subject. Agroforestry applies to private agricultural and forest lands and communities that also include highly erodible, flood-prone, economically marginal and environmentally sensitive lands. The typical situation is agricultural, where trees are added to create desired benefits. Agroforestry allows for the diversification of farm activities and makes better use of environmental resources. Owing to an increase in the population of human and cattle, there is increasing demand of food as well as fodder, particularly in developing countries like India. So far, there is no policy that deals with specifics in agroforestry in India. But, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has been discussing on the scope of having a National Agroforestry Policy in appropriate platforms. However, evolving a policy requires good and reliable datasets from different corners of the country on the subject matter. This synthesis volume containing 13 chapters is an attempt to collate available information in a classified manner into different system ecologies, problems and solutions, and converging them into a policy support.
This book describes the domain of research and investigation of physical, chemical and biological attributes of flowing water, and it deals with a cross-disciplinary field of study combining physical, geophysical, hydraulic, technological, environmental interests. It aims to equip engineers, geophysicists, managers working in water-related arenas as well as advanced students and researchers with the most up to date information available on the state of knowledge about rivers, particularly their physical, fluvial and environmental processes. Information from various but also interrelated areas available in one volume is the main benefit for potential readers. All chapters are prepared by leading experts from the leading research laboratories from all over the world.
The focus of this volume is research carried out as part of the program Mathematics of Planet Earth, which provides a platform to showcase the essential role of mathematics in addressing planetary problems and creating a context for mathematicians and applied scientists to foster mathematical and interdisciplinary developments that will be necessary to tackle a myriad of issues and meet future global challenges. Earth is a planet with dynamic processes in its mantle, oceans and atmosphere creating climate, causing natural disasters and influencing fundamental aspects of life and life-supporting systems. In addition to these natural processes, human activity has increased to the point where it influences the global climate, impacts the ability of the planet to feed itself and threatens the stability of these systems. Issues such as climate change, sustainability, man-made disasters, control of diseases and epidemics, management of resources, risk analysis and global integration have come to the fore. Written by specialists in several fields of mathematics and applied sciences, this book presents the proceedings of the International Conference and Advanced School Planet Earth, Mathematics of Energy and Climate Change held in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2013, which was organized by the International Center of Mathematics (CIM) as a partner institution of the international program Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013. The book presents the state of the art in advanced research and ultimate techniques in modeling natural, economical and social phenomena. It constitutes a tool and a framework for researchers and graduate students, both in mathematics and applied sciences.
This book explores the potential of geoethics, as designed within the operational criteria of addressing the deeds and values of the human agent as part of the Earth system. It addresses three key questions: i) what should be considered 'geoethics' in an operational sense, ii) what is peripheral to it, and iii) is there a case therefore to establish a denomination, such as geo-humanities or geosophy, to capture a broader scope of thinking about geoscience and its interactions with society and the natural world, for the benefit of the geo-professionals and others. The book begins by framing, contextualising and describing contemporary geoethics, then goes on to cover several examples of geoethical thinking and explores the societal intersections of geosciences in the planetary 'human niche'. The concluding chapter discusses the challenges facing the emerging field of geoethics and how it may evolve in the future. Bringing together a set of experts across multiple interdisciplinary fields this collection will appeal to scholars, researchers, practitioners and students within geosciences and social sciences, political sciences as well as the humanities. It will interest those who are curious about how ethical reflections relate to professional duties, scholarly interests, activities in professional geoscience associations, or responsible citizenship in times of anthropogenic global change.
This book offers a broad perspective on important topics in earthquake geotechnical engineering and gives specialists and those that are involved with research and application a more comprehensive understanding about the various topics. Consisting of eighteen chapters written by authors from the most seismic active regions of the world, such as USA, Japan, Canada, Chile, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Taiwan, and Turkey, the book reflects different views concerning how to assess and minimize earthquake damage. The authors, a prominent group of specialists in the field of earthquake geotechnical engineering, are the invited lecturers of the International Conference on Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering from Case History to Practice in the honour of Professor Kenji Ishihara held in Istanbul, Turkey during 17-19 June 2013.
This book provides an accessible guide to using the rock physics-based forward modeling approach for mapping the subsurface, systematically linking rock properties to seismic amplitude. Providing practical workflows, the book shows how to methodically vary lithology, porosity, rock type, and pore fluids and reservoir geometry, calculate the corresponding elastic properties, and then generate synthetic seismic traces. These synthetic traces can then be compared to actual seismic traces from the field: a similar actual seismic response implies similar rock properties in the subsurface. The book catalogs various cases, including clastic sediments, carbonates, and time-lapse seismic monitoring, and discusses the effect of attenuation on seismic reflections. It shows how to build earth models (pseudo-wells) using deterministic and statistical approaches, and includes case studies based on real well data. A vital guide for researchers and petroleum geologists, in industry and academia, providing sample catalogs of synthetic seismic reflections from a variety of realistic reservoir models.
"This is, for my money, the best single-source primer on the state of climate change." (New York Magazine) "The right book at the right time: accessible, comprehensive, unflinching, humane." (The Daily Beast) "A must-read." (The Guardian) The essential primer on what will be the defining issue of our time, CLIMATE CHANGE: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) is a clear-eyed overview of the science, conflicts, and implications of our warming planet. From Joseph Romm, Chief Science Advisor for National Geographic's Years of Living Dangerously series and one of Rolling Stone's "100 people who are changing America," CLIMATE CHANGE offers user-friendly, scientifically rigorous answers to the most difficult (and commonly politicized) questions surrounding what climatologist Lonnie Thompson has deemed "a clear and present danger to civilization." Questions about climate change addressed in this guide include: * How will climate change affect day-to-day life in the coming decades? * What are the implications of owning coastal property in the age of climate change? * Is retirement to South Florida (or the U.S. Southwest, or even Southern Europe) safe? * What are the implications of the United States' withdrawal from the Paris climate treaty? * What does Donald Trump's presidency mean for climate action in the United States and around the globe? * Are efforts to combat climate change making a difference? As the global response to climate change continues to evolve, CLIMATE CHANGE: What Everyone Needs to Know (R) offers smart, unblemished answers to the most difficult questions in an area dogged by misunderstanding and politicization.
"The Early Evolution of the Atmospheres of Terrestrial Planets" presents the main processes participating in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. A group of experts in the different fields provide an update of our current knowledge on this topic. Several papers in this book discuss the key role of nitrogen in the atmospheric evolution of terrestrial planets. The earliest setting and evolution of planetary atmospheres of terrestrial planets is directly associated with accretion, chemical differentiation, outgassing, stochastic impacts, and extremely high energy fluxes from their host stars. This book provides an overview of the present knowledge of the initial atmospheric composition of the terrestrial planets. Additionally it includes some papers about the current exoplanet discoveries and provides additional clues to our understanding of Earth's transition from a hot accretionary phase into a habitable world. All papers included were reviewed by experts in their respective fields. We are living in an epoch of important exoplanet discoveries, but current properties of these exoplanets do not match our scientific predictions using standard terrestrial planet models. This book deals with the main physio-chemical signatures and processes that could be useful to better understand the formation of rocky planets.
This book focuses on the use of open source software for geospatial analysis. It demonstrates the effectiveness of the command line interface for handling both vector, raster and 3D geospatial data. Appropriate open-source tools for data processing are clearly explained and discusses how they can be used to solve everyday tasks. A series of fully worked case studies are presented including vector spatial analysis, remote sensing data analysis, landcover classification and LiDAR processing. A hands-on introduction to the application programming interface (API) of GDAL/OGR in Python/C++ is provided for readers who want to extend existing tools and/or develop their own software.
This collected volume deals with emerging issues related to climate variation, climate change and adaptation technologies, with a special focus on Latin American countries. Presenting a variety of adaptation strategies and projects currently being undertaken and implemented, the book showcases how Latin American nations are struggling to meet the challenges of climate change. Latin America as a whole and Central America in particular is one of the most vulnerable regions of the world and is severely affected by recurrent extreme climate-related events. This volume documents and analyzes the main challenges and lessons learned, serving to disseminate knowledge beyond the region and enhance international research and policy cooperation.
This work provides a short "getting started" guide to Fortran 90/95. The main target audience consists of newcomers to the field of numerical computation within Earth system sciences (students, researchers or scientific programmers). Furthermore, readers accustomed to other programming languages may also benefit from this work, by discovering how some programming techniques they are familiar with map to Fortran 95. The main goal is to enable readers to quickly start using Fortran 95 for writing useful programs. It also introduces a gradual discussion of Input/Output facilities relevant for Earth system sciences, from the simplest ones to the more advanced netCDF library (which has become a de facto standard for handling the massive datasets used within Earth system sciences). While related works already treat these disciplines separately (each often providing much more information than needed by the beginning practitioner), the reader finds in this book a shorter guide which links them. Compared to other books, this work provides a much more compact view of the language, while also placing the language-elements in a more applied setting, by providing examples related to numerical computing and more advanced Input/Output facilities for Earth system sciences. Naturally, the coverage of the programming language is relatively shallow, since many details are skipped. However, many of these details can be learned gradually by the practitioner, after getting an overview and some practice with the language through this book.
Commissioned by the Intergovernmental Meeting (IGM) of the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), this book offers a detailed survey of the current status of climate change and climate variability in the Asia-Pacific region, a thorough and thoughtful assessment of climate and security and clear recommendations on the best paths of climate research in the future.
With the major growth of the world's population over the past century, as well as rapid urbanisation, people increasingly live in crowded cities. This trend is often accompanied by proliferation of poorly built housing, uncontrolled use of land, occupation of unsafe environments and overstretched services. When a natural hazard strikes such a city many people are vulnerable to loss of life and property. This book explores what these people think and feel about the threats that they face. How do they live with perils ranging from earthquakes to monsoons, from floods to hurricanes, in the 21st century? The authors are drawn from a large range of disciplines: Psychology, Engineering, Geography, Anthropology and Urban Planning. They also reflect on how perils are represented in multiple cultures: the United States, Japan, Turkey, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The book therefore not only brings to light the ways that different cultures represent natural hazards but also the different ways in which various disciplines write about living with perils in the 21st century. The book is addressed both to researchers and to organizations involved with risk management and risk mitigation.
Reference systems and frames are of primary importance for many Earth science applications, satellite navigation as well as for practical applications in geo-information. A precisely defined reference frame is needed for the quantification of, e.g. Earth rotation and its gravity field, global and regional sea level variation, tectonic motion and deformation, post-glacial rebound, geocenter motion, large scale deformation due to Earthquakes, local subsidence and other ruptures and crustal dislocations. All of these important scientific applications fundamentally depend on a truly global reference system that only space geodesy can realize. This volume details the proceedigns of the IAG Symposium REFAG2010 (Marne la Vallee, France, October 4-8, 2010) The primary scope of REFAG2010 was to address today's achievements on theoretical concepts of reference systems and their practical implementations by individual space geodetic techniques and their combinations, underlying limiting factors, systematic errors and novel approaches for future improvements.
On a Sustainable Future of the Earth's Natural Resources is divided into three sections, with individual chapters contributed by experts on diff erent facets of the earth sciences, natural resources management and related issues. The first section focuses on the status of Earth's resources; land, water, biota and atmosphere. Reviews on the rate of exploitation and the need to conserve these resources for future sustenance are also covered in this section. Th e following section includes chapters elucidating environmental, ecological, climatological and anthropological pressures on sustained nourishment with the Earth's resources. The last section describes management practices, issues and perspectives on sociological, legal, administrative, ICT and strategic efforts that need to be implemented in order to sustain our natural resources. This book covers a broad spectrum of the Earth's resources and sustenance, offering a comprehensive perspective on their past, present and future.
Joseph Yelloly Watson (1817-88) produced this short work for private circulation in 1843. For many years a mining agent with the London firm of Watson and Cuell, he became a fellow of the Geological Society and wrote on mining and historical subjects. Drawing chiefly on data from Cornwall, the present work gives details of mining processes, the layout of mines, the working conditions of miners (including figures for wages and working hours), and the typical management structure of a mine, with information on shareholders, profits and accounting. The work includes coverage of individual mining districts, including Gwennap, Camborne, Illogan, St Just, St Ives and Marazion in Cornwall, along with discussion of mines in Devon, Cumberland and elsewhere. Concluding with notes on the history of metal mining, followed by a useful glossary of mining terms, this remains a concise and instructive resource on a significant economic sector in the nineteenth century.
This is the third volume of a three-volume final report, which thoroughly describes, synthesizes and analyzes the results of the four-year Integrated Research Project CIRCE - Climate Change and Impact Research: Mediterranean Environment, funded by the EU 6th Framework Programme. Conducted under the auspices of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, Italy, the study was designed to predict and to quantify the physical impacts of climate change in the Mediterranean, and to assess the most influential consequences for the population of the region.
Originally published in 1916, as part of the Cambridge Geological Series, this book was written to provide a concise account of those parts of geology directly related to agriculture. The bulk of the text deals with the geological properties of soil, avoiding the chemical and physical aspects dealt with in other works. Numerous illustrative figures and notes are incorporated throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in agricultural geology and the history of science.
Originally published in 1923, as part of the Cambridge Geological Series, this book is composed of two main sections: the first presents an account of the general principles underlying the formation of ore deposits and the changes that they subsequently undergo; the second describes and illustrates a certain number of typical examples of mineral deposits, putting them in a geological context. Textual notes and numerous illustrative figures are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in geology and the history of science.
Failure by the international community to make substantive progress in reducing CO2 emissions, coupled with recent evidence of accelerating climate change, has brought increasing urgency to the search for additional remediation approaches. This book presents a selection of state-of-the-art geoengineering methods for deliberately reducing the effects of anthropogenic climate change, either by actively removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere or by decreasing the amount of sunlight absorbed at the Earth's surface. These methods contrast with more conventional mitigation approaches which focus on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Geoengineering technologies could become a key tool to be used in conjunction with emissions reduction to limit the magnitude of climate change. Featuring authoritative, peer-reviewed entries from the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology, this book presents a wide range of climate change remediation technologies. |
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