Two world-renowned scientists present an audacious new vision of the cosmos that "steals the thunder from the Big Bang theory." --"Wall Street Journal
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The Big Bang theory--widely regarded as the leading explanation for the origin of the universe--posits that space and time sprang into being about 14 billion years ago in a hot, expanding fireball of nearly infinite density. Over the last three decades the theory has been repeatedly revised to address such issues as how galaxies and stars first formed and why the expansion of the universe is speeding up today. Furthermore, an explanation has yet to be found for what caused the Big Bang in the first place.
In "Endless Universe," Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turok, both distinguished theoretical physicists, present a bold new cosmology. Steinhardt and Turok "contend that what we think of as the moment of creation was simply part of an infinite cycle of titanic collisions between our universe and a parallel world" ("Discover"). They recount the remarkable developments in astronomy, particle physics, and superstring theory that form the basis for their groundbreaking "Cyclic Universe" theory. According to this theory, the Big Bang was not the beginning of time but the bridge to a past filled with endlessly repeating cycles of evolution, each accompanied by the creation of new matter and the formation of new galaxies, stars, and planets.
"Endless Universe" provides answers to longstanding problems with the Big Bang model, while offering a provocative new view of both the past and the future of the cosmos. It is a "theory that could solve the cosmic mystery" ("USA Today").

As the planet warms, winter is shrinking. In the last fifty years, the Northern Hemisphere lost a million square miles of spring snowpack, and high-elevation snowpacks in the western United States have decreased by nearly half since 1982. On average, winter has shrunk by a month in most northern latitudes. In this deeply researched, beautifully written, and adventure-filled book, journalist Porter Fox travels along the edge of the Northern Hemisphere's snow line to track the scope of this drastic change and how it will literally change everything-from rapid sea level rise, to fresh water scarcity for two billion people, to massive greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, and several climate tipping points that could very well spell the end of our world. This original research is animated by four harrowing and illuminating journeys-each grounded by interviews with idiosyncratic, charismatic experts in their respective fields and Fox's own narrative of growing up on a remote island in northern Maine. Timely, atmospheric, and expertly investigated, The Last Winter showcases a shocking and unexpected casualty of climate change-which may well set off its own unstoppable warming cycle.

In this text, modern applied mathematics and physical insight are used to construct the simplest and first nonlinear dynamical model for the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), i.e. the stochastic skeleton model. This model captures the fundamental features of the MJO and offers a theoretical prediction of its structure, leading to new detailed methods to identify it in observational data. The text contributes to understanding and predicting intraseasonal variability, which remains a challenging task in contemporary climate, atmospheric, and oceanic science. In the tropics, the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) is the dominant component of intraseasonal variability. One of the strengths of this text is demonstrating how a blend of modern applied mathematical tools, including linear and nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs), simple stochastic modeling, and numerical algorithms, have been used in conjunction with physical insight to create the model. These tools are also applied in developing several extensions of the model in order to capture additional features of the MJO, including its refined vertical structure and its interactions with the extratropics. This book is of interest to graduate students, postdocs, and senior researchers in pure and applied mathematics, physics, engineering, and climate, atmospheric, and oceanic science interested in turbulent dynamical systems as well as other complex systems.

Climatology and meteorology have basically been a descriptive science until it became possible to use numerical models, but it is crucial to the success of the strategy that the model must be a good representation of the real climate system of the Earth. Models are required to reproduce not only the mean properties of climate, but also its variability and the strong spatial relations between climate variability in geographically diverse regions. Quantitative techniques were developed to explore the climate variability and its relations between different geographical locations. Methods were borrowed from descriptive statistics, where they were developed to analyze variance of related observations-variable pairs, or to identify unknown relations between variables.

A Guide to Empirical Orthogonal Functions for Climate Data Analysis uses a different approach, trying to introduce the reader to a practical application of the methods, including data sets from climate simulations and MATLAB codes for the algorithms. All pictures and examples used in the book may be reproduced by using the data sets and the routines available in the book .

Though the main thrust of the book is for climatological examples, the treatment is sufficiently general that the discussion is also useful for students and practitioners in other fields.

Supplementary datasets are available via http: //extra.springer.com

"[An] approachable exploration of the jet stream ... The reader is rewarded with plenty of juicy little facts ... a good and surprisingly enjoyable trip around a weather phenomenon." - Brian Clegg, Popular Science A number of extreme weather events have struck the Northern Hemisphere in recent years, from scorching heatwaves to desperately cold winters, and from floods and storms to droughts and wildfires. These events have fuelled intense discussions in scientific conferences, government agencies, cafes, and on street corners around the world. Why are these events happening? Is this the emerging signal of climate change, and should we expect more of this? Media reports vary widely, but one mysterious agent has risen to prominence in many cases: the jet stream. The story begins on a windswept beach in Barbados, from where we follow the ascent of a weather balloon that will travel along the jet stream all around the world. From this viewpoint we observe the effect of the jet in influencing human life around the hemisphere, and witness startling changes emerging. What is the jet stream and how well do we understand it? How does it affect our weather and is it changing? These are the main questions tackled in this book. We learn about how our view of the wind has developed from Aristotle's early theories up to today's understanding. We see that the jet is intimately connected with dramatic contrasts between climate zones and has played a key historical role in determining patterns of trade. We learn about the basic physics underlying the jet and how this knowledge is incorporated into computer models which predict both tomorrow's weather and the climate of future decades. And finally, we discuss how climate change is expected to affect the jet, and introduce the vital scientific debate over whether these changes have contributed to recent extreme weather events.

The third edition of this introductory textbook for both science students and non-science majors has been brought completely up-to-date. It reflects recent scientific progress in the field, as well as advances in the political arena around climate change. As in previous editions, it is tightly focussed on anthropogenic climate change. The first part of the book concentrates on the science of modern climate change, including evidence that the Earth is warming and a basic description of climate physics. Concepts such as radiative forcing, climate feedbacks, and the carbon cycle are discussed and explained using basic physics and algebra. The second half of the book goes beyond the science to address the economics and policy options to address climate change. The book's goal is for a student to leave the class ready to engage in the public policy debate on the climate crisis.

In this book the authors consider the natural environment as an integrated system and describe a cohesive approach to its modelling and prediction. The book emphasises the mathematical representation and numerical simulation of the interactions between the various environmental components and those of the environmental processes, including physical, chemical and biological. Furthermore, it summarises some of the recent progress and new developments in the modelling and prediction of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, continental hydrosphere, cryosphere, etc. The authors also explore new theoretical frameworks in environmental prediction, such as systems analysis and statistical-dynamic modelling. The applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems in environmental modelling and prediction are discussed. Examples of integrated environmental modelling are given

In response to an Executive Order by former California Governor Schwarzenegger, an evaluation of the implications to California of possible climate changes was undertaken using a scenario-based approach. The Scenarios Project investigated projected impacts of climate change on six sectors in the California region. The investigation considered the early, middle and later portions of the twenty-first century, guided by a set of IPCC Fourth Assessment global climate model runs forced by higher and lower greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Each of these climate simulations produce substantial impacts in California that would require adaptations from present practices or status. The most severe impacts could be avoided, however, if emissions can be held near the lower end of global greenhouse gas emissions scenarios.Reprinted from Climatic Change, Vol. 109: Supplement 1 (2011)

Every night across the country, viewers tune in to their evening news to glimpse the next day's weather. They are treated to graphic images of invading air masses, colliding fronts, and growing tropical storms. This book is the story of this tool, the weather map, which in its many forms has made the atmosphere visible, understandable, and at least moderately predictable. No other maps are so spontaneously timely, so widely and frequently consulted, and so central to the daily activities of so many. The singular history of the weather map developed around the twin poles of weather's many facets and the public's varied needs. Mark Monmonier traces the contentious debates among scientists eager to unravel the enigma of storms and global change, explains the strategies for mapping the upper atmosphere and forecasting disaster, and exposes the efforts to detect and control air pollution. He introduces Karl Theodor, a Bavarian politician who devised one of the first weather-tracking networks in the late-18th century, and Heinrich Wilhelm Brandes, who drew the first maps of European weather in 1819 - for the year of 1783. Monmonier also explores the interaction between technology - from the telegraph to the Internet - and weather forecasting.

Tracking initial ocean (de)oxygenation is critical to better constrain the coevolution of life and environment. Development of thallium isotopes has provided evidence to track the global manganese oxide burial which responds to early (de)oxygenation for short-term climate events. Modern oxic seawater thallium isotope values are recorded in organic-rich sediments deposited below an anoxic water column. An expansion of reducing conditions decrease manganese oxide burial and shifts the seawater thallium isotope composition more positive. Recent work documents that thallium isotopes are perturbed prior to carbon isotope excursions, suggesting ocean deoxygenation is a precursor for increased organic carbon burial. This Element provides an introduction to the application of thallium isotopes, case studies, and future directions.

Snowshoe Country is an environmental and cultural history of winter in the colonial Northeast, closely examining indigenous and settler knowledge of snow, ice, and life in the cold. Indigenous communities in this region were more knowledgeable about the cold than European newcomers from temperate climates, and English settlers were especially slow to adapt. To keep surviving the winter year after year and decade after decade, English colonists relied on Native assistance, borrowed indigenous winter knowledge, and followed seasonal diplomatic protocols to ensure stable relations with tribal leaders. Thomas M. Wickman explores how fluctuations in winter weather and the halting exchange of winter knowledge both inhibited and facilitated English colonialism from the 1620s to the early 1700s. As their winter survival strategies improved, due to skills and technologies appropriated from Natives, colonial leaders were able to impose a new political ecology in the greater Northeast, projecting year-round authority over indigenous lands.

The 'detective' power of stable isotopes for processes that occurred in the past, and for elucidating mechanisms at the molecular level, has impressed researchers over the past 100 years, since the time when isotopes of elements were first discovered. While most are interested in the normalized abundance ratios of two isotopes of an element, further power was unleashed when researchers investigated the relationship of three or more isotopes of the same element, e.g. 16O, 17O, and 18O for oxygen. This Element focuses on the history of discovery of triple isotope effects, the conceptual framework behind these effects, and major lines of development in the past few years of triple oxygen isotope research.

When Indonesia's Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, it unleashed the most destructive wave of extreme weather the world has witnessed in thousands of years. The volcano's massive sulfate dust cloud enveloped the Earth, cooling temperatures and disrupting major weather systems for more than three years. Communities worldwide endured famine, disease, and civil unrest on a catastrophic scale. Here, Gillen D'Arcy Wood traces Tambora's global and historical reach: how the volcano's three-year climate change regime initiated the first worldwide cholera pandemic, expanded opium markets in China, and plunged the United States into its first economic depression. Bringing the history of this planetary emergency to life, Tambora sheds light on the fragile interdependence of climate and human societies to offer a cautionary tale about the potential tragic impacts of drastic climate change in our own century.

The sixth edition of a bestseller, Air Quality provides students with a comprehensive overview of air quality, the science that continues to provide a better understanding of atmospheric chemistry and its effects on public health and the environment, and the regulatory and technological management practices employed in achieving air quality goals. Maintaining the practical approach that has made previous editions popular, the chapters have been reorganized, new material has been added, less relevant material has been deleted, and new images have been added, particularly those from Earth satellites.

New in the Sixth Edition

New graphics, images, and an appended list of unit conversions

New problems and questions

Presents all-new information on the state of air quality monitoring

Provides the latest updates on air quality legislation in the United States

Updates the effects of air pollution and CO2 on climate change

Examines the effects of the latest changes in energy production and the related emissions and pollutants

Offers broadened coverage of air pollutant emissions and air quality in a global context

This new edition elucidates the challenges we face in our efforts to protect and enhance the quality of the nation’s air. It also highlights the growing global awareness of air quality issues, climate change, and public health concerns in the developing world. The breadth of coverage, review questions at the end of each chapter, extensive glossary, and list of readings place the tools for understanding into your students’ hands.

Table of Contents

1. Atmosphere

2. Atmospheric Pollution and Pollutants

3. Atmospheric Dispersion, Transport, and Deposition

4. Atmospheric Effects

5. Health Effects

6. Welfare Effect

7. Air Quality and Emissions Assessment

8. Regulation and Public Policy

9. Control of Motor Vehicle Emissions

10. Control of Emissions from Stationary Sources

11. Indoor Air Quality

12. Environmental Noise

This book provides an essential overview of wind science and engineering, taking readers on a journey through the origins, developments, fundamentals, recent advancements and latest trends in this broad field. Along the way, it addresses a diverse range of topics, including: atmospheric physics; meteorology; micrometeorology; climatology; the aerodynamics of buildings, aircraft, sailing boats, road vehicles and trains; wind energy; atmospheric pollution; soil erosion; snow drift, windbreaks and crops; bioclimatic city-planning and architecture; wind actions and effects on structures; and wind hazards, vulnerability and risk. In order to provide a comprehensive overview of wind and its manifold effects, the book combines scientific, descriptive and narrative chapters. The book is chiefly intended for students and lecturers, for those who want to learn about the genesis and evolution of this topic, and for the multitude of scholars whose work involves the wind.

Grasslands are the most extensive terrestrial biome on Earth and are critically important for forage, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. This book brings together an international team of researchers to review scientific knowledge of the effects of climate change on world grasslands, a process we are only just starting to understand. Part I assesses how climate change will impact on the distribution of grasslands, as well as production, biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem services. Part II considers the consequences for the spread of invasive species, demographic change, trophic-level relationships, soil biota, and evolutionary change within grassland biodiversity. Part III proposes how ecologists can respond to climate change effects, focusing on grazing systems, cultural ecology, range management, and restoration. The concluding chapter sets grasslands in the context of the Anthropocene era and identifies the vital research and conservation needs for grassland ecosystems to remain environmentally sustainable under climate change.

For the past decade, historian Dipesh Chakrabarty has been one of the most influential scholars addressing the meaning of climate change. Climate change, he argues, upends long-standing ideas of history, modernity, and globalization. The burden of The Climate of History in a Planetary Age is to grapple with what this means and to confront humanities scholars with ideas they have been reluctant to reconsider-from the changed nature of human agency to a new acceptance of universals. Chakrabarty argues that we must see ourselves from two perspectives at once: the planetary and the global. This distinction is central to Chakrabarty's work-the globe is a human-centric construction, while a planetary perspective intentionally decenters the human. Featuring wide-ranging excursions into historical and philosophical literatures, The Climate of History in a Planetary Age boldly considers how to frame the human condition in troubled times. As we open ourselves to the implications of the Anthropocene, few writers are as likely as Chakrabarty to shape our understanding of the best way forward.

This book include research studies which deal with the attempts to address new solutions for challenges in geotechnical engineering such as characterization of new materials, application of glass fibre, geotextile fabric and permeable concrete, new numerical methods for traditional problems and some other geotechnical issues that are becoming quite relevant in today's world. The book adds to the geotechnical engineering field which still bears lots of big challenges. It contributes to make the civil infrastructures more sustainable using new technologies and materials that have been proposed and applied in various fields. Papers were selected from the 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018 - Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes: From Failure to Sustainability, held on July 23 to 25, 2018 in HangZhou, China.

This book presents new research studies dealing with the attempts made by the scientists and practitioners to address some key engineering issues in tunneling engineering, geotechnical engineering, and municipal sustainability issues that are becoming quite relevant in today's world. With high urbanization rates, advancement in technologies, difficulties in construction of subway tunnel in soft marine clay deposits, and severe ground subsidence due to excessive groundwater withdrawal pose many challenges in their management. Papers were selected from the 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018 - Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes: From Failure to Sustainability, held on July 23 to 25, 2018 in HangZhou, China.

This book discusses instrumentation used in meteorological surface systems, both on the synoptic scale and the mesoscale, and the instrumentation used in upper air soundings. The text includes material on first- and second-order differential equations as applied to instrument dynamic performance, and required solutions are developed.

Sensor physics are emphasized in order to explain how sensors work and to explore the strengths and weaknesses of each design type. The book is organized according to sensor type and function (temperature, humidity, and wind sensors, for example), though several unifying themes are developed for each sensor. Functional diagrams are used to portray sensors as a set of logical functions, and static sensitivity is derived from a sensor's transfer equation, focusing attention on sensor physics and on ways in which particular designs might be improved. Sensor performance specifications are explored, helping to compare various instruments and to tell users what to expect as a reasonable level of performance. Finally, the text examines the critical area of environmental exposure of instruments. In a well-designed, properly installed, and well-maintained meteorological measurement system, exposure problems are usually the largest source of error, making this chapter one of the most useful sections of the book.