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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > Meteorology
The urban climate is continuously deteriorating. Urban heat lowers the quality of urban life, increases energy needs, and affects the urban socio-economy. Urban Climate Mitigation Techniques presents steps that can be taken to mitigate this situation through a series of innovative technologies and examples of best practices for the improvement of the urban climate. Including tools for evaluation and a comparative analysis, this book addresses anthropogenic heat, green areas, cool materials and pavements, outdoor shading structures, evaporative cooling and earth cooling. Case studies demonstrate the success and applicability of these measures in various cities throughout the world. Useful for urban designers, architects and planners, Urban Climate Mitigation Techniques is a step by step tour of the innovative technologies improving our urban climate, providing a holistic approach supported by well-established quantitative examples.
Human-made climate change may have begun in the last two hundred years, but our species has witnessed many eras of climate instability. The results have not always been pretty. From Ancient Egypt to Rome to the Maya, some of history's mightiest civilizations have been felled by pestilence and glacial melt and drought. The challenges are no less great today. We face hurricanes and megafires and food shortages and more. But we have one powerful advantage as we face our current crisis: the past. Our knowledge of ancient climates has advanced tremendously in the last decade, to the point where we can now reconstruct seasonal weather going back thousands of years and see just how people and nature interacted. The lesson is clear: the societies that survive are those that plan ahead. Climate Chaos is a book about saving ourselves. Brian Fagan and Nadia Durrani show in remarkable detail what it was like to battle our climate over centuries and offer us a path to a safer and healthier future.
This book provides valuable lessons that will improve public policy and the quality of decisions that will affect generations to come. Richard Moss, Senior Director Climate and Energy, United Nations Foundation An excellent addition to the body of knowledge on adaptation to climate change from the developing world, which has been largely missing until now. Saleemul Huq, Director, Climate Change Programme, International Institute for Environment and Development This important volume is a valuable effort on adaptation to climate change that needs to be on the desks of those seeking coping strategies for longer term responses to evolving climate changes. Roger Kasperson, Emeritus, Clark University, USAThe IPCC, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007, makes clear that while climate change mitigation is vital, the world must also begin to adapt. But how best can this be achieved? This authoritative volume (along with its companion on vulnerability), resulting from the work of the Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC) project launched with the IPCC in 2002, is the first to provide an in-depth investigation of the stakes in developing countries. It covers current practices for managing climate risks, deficits between current practices and needs, the changing nature of the risks due to human caused climate change, strategies for adapting to changing risks, and the need to integrate these strategies into development planning and resource management. The book also identifies obstacles to effective adaptation and explores measures needed to create conditions that are favourable to climate change adaptation.Published with TWAS and START
This book focuses on different aspects of initiatives-to check pollution and to reduce consumption of fossil fuels-by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The chapters examine climate change projections for ASEAN, the relationship between income inequality and environmental sustainability, greening initiatives pursued by microfinance institutions, farmers' awareness and perceptions of climate change, potential introduction of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in Malaysia, the impact of Euro-4 automobile emission regulations on the development of technological capabilities and the threats and vulnerability people face from climate change and national disasters. The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change's Conference of Parties meetings to cap temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next century has set the steering and the interventions essential for mitigating global warming. There is increasing recognition that initiatives must be taken across the globe regardless of the state of development of each individual country, and so this book has important practical implications. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy.
Climate change is a pressing reality. From hurricane Katrina to melting polar ice, and from mass extinctions to increased threats to food and water security, the link between corporate globalization and planetary blowback is becoming all too evident. Governments and business keep reassuring the public they are going to fix the problem. This book brings together some leading activists who disagree. They expose the inertia, denial, deception-even threats to our civil liberties-which comprise mainstream responses from civil and military policy makers, and from opinion formers in the media, corporations and academia. An epochal change is called for in te way we all engage with the climate crisis. Key to that change is Aubrey Meyer's proposed "Contraction and Convergence" framework for limiting global carbon emissions, which he outlines in this book. Also included here are contributions from Mayer Hillman and George Marshall, making this a powerful and vital guide to how mass mobilization can avert the looming catastrophe.
This book comprises the proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering 2021. The contents of this volume focus on specialty conferences in construction, environmental, hydrotechnical, materials, structures, transportation engineering, etc. This volume will prove a valuable resource for those in academia and industry.
Introduction to Micrometeorology is intended as a textbook for courses in micrometeorology for undergraduate students (juniors or seniors) in meteorology or environmental science, as well as for an introductory graduate-level course in boundary-layer meteorology. It will also serve as a good reference for professional meteorologists, environmental scientists and engineers, particularly those interested in problems of air pollution, atmospheric-biospheric interactions, wind-engineering and engineering meteorology. The book outlines basic laws and concepts, before using qualitative descriptions to introduce more complex theories. This new edition is updated and expanded, as are the references. Each chapter features worked-through problems and exercises.
Volume 2 of a three-volume final report 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, CIRCE 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 region's population. This volume incorporates Parts 3 and 4 of the report, reviewing current knowledge of observed climate variability and trends in the Mediterranean, and including descriptions of available temperature and precipitation station and gridded data sets.
Roughly 30 percent of the solar radiation directed toward the earth is reflected directly back into outer space. The remaining 70 percent is absorbed by earth and re-emitted outward as long-wave -- or infra-red -- radiation. While transparent to incoming solar radiation, certain gases--notably carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons -- absorb, or " trap, " this outgoing infra-red radiation near the earth's surface, producing an increase in temperature. This is the so-called greenhouse effect. The greater the concentration of these greenhouse gases, the more pronounced will be the effect. Despite uncertainties, the scientific consensus recorded at Villach, Austria, in 1985 was that " the understanding of the greenhouse question is sufficiently developed that scientists and policy-makers should begin an active collaboration to explore the effectiveness of alternatives and adjustments." The recent scientific assessment of climate change, conducted under the auspices of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has only strengthened the view that a concerted multilateral response is called for. Brookings Occasional Papers
Many parts of the developing world are subject to variable and extreme climate, the impacts of which impede development and point to the need to improve the understanding and management of climate risks. These needs are being amplified by human-caused climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded in its 2001 report that much of the developing world is highly vulnerable to adverse impacts from climate change. But the IPCC also concluded that the vulnerabilities of developing countries are too little studied and too poorly understood to enable determination of adaptation strategies that would be effective at reducing risks. Climate Change and Adaptation and its companion volume Climate Change and Vulnerability, resulting from the work of the Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change (AIACC) project launched by the IPCC in 2002, are the first to provide a comprehensive investigation of the issues at stake. "Climate Change and Adaptation" covers current practices for managing climate risks to food security, water resources, livelihoods, human health and infrastructure, deficits between current practices and needs for effective management of climate risks, the changing nature of the risks due to human-caused climate change, strategies for adapting to climate change to lessen the risks, and the need to integrate these strategies into development planning and resource management. The book also identifies obstacles to effective adaptation and explore measures needed to create conditions that are favorable to climate change adaptation. The findings and lessons will be of use to policymakers and managers responsible for understanding and avoidingpotentially adverse effects from climate change on sustainable development, food security, agriculture, water resources, forests, fisheries, grazing lands, biodiversity and public health. Citizen activists who are concerned about reducing the threats from climate change to the poor, sustainable development, biodiversity, and sensitive environmental systems and resources will learn about options for management of the threats.
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.
Temperature and precipitation increase and decrease because of natural causes. However, anthropogenic changes, such as an enhanced greenhouse effect, may result in alterations in the regional climate and in relative sea level. Serious changes in climate and sea level-with adverse effects particularly along low-lying coasts-would affect millions of people. Climate Change takes an in-depth, worldwide look at coastal habitation with respect to these natural and anthropogenic changes. No universally applicable coastal model can be used to describe climatic changes. This unique book provides individual discussions of beaches and barrier islands, cliffs, deltas, tidal flats and wetlands, reefs, and atolls. The impact of climatic change on coastal ecology and agriculture is investigated, and human responses to the effects of climatic change along the world's coasts are included.
Highlighting twenty years of U.S. scientific research conducted since the International Geophysical Year (IGY) of 1957-58, this volume marks a turning point in the history of polar investigations and provides a lucid summary of the contributions of many distinguished scientists. The authors provide an overview of major polar research programs, past and present; explore concepts derived, from highly interrelated aspects of physical and life sciences; and seek to offer a glimpse of future polar science and polar development. The introduction briefly describes major physical, biological, and interdisciplinary research programs, as well as the magnitude, extent, and international character of contemporary polar science. Twenty years of polar biological investigations are then reviewed, and subsequent chapters address principles and advances in meteorology, physical oceanography, glaciology, and the geological evidence that hears on the origin of Antarctica. These physical sciences delineate a matrix for the polar biospheres and provide a background for understanding the major categories of structure and dynamic functioning of the marine ecosystem, polar marine mammals, adaptational physiology, and terrestrial biotic adaptations.
Featuring contributions from leading experts in the field, Climate Change and Managed Ecosystems examines the effects of global climate change on intensively constructed or reconstructed ecosystems, focusing on land use changes in relation to forestry, agriculture, and wetlands including peatlands. The book begins by discussing the fragility of ecosystems in the face of changing climates, particularly through human caused increases in atmospheric GHGs. The chapters delineate how and why the climate has changed and what can be expected to occur in the foreseeable future. They identify the potential adaptation responses to reduce the impacts of a changing climate. Using this information as a foundation, the chapter authors examine what is known about the impacts of climate on agricultural, forested, and wetland ecosystems. They illustrate the importance of these ecosystems in the global carbon cycle and discuss the potential interaction between terrestrial and atmospheric carbon pools under changing climactic conditions. The book delineates what needs to be done to ensure continued stability in these ecosystems. It includes a description of activities that have been undertaken in the past to identify gaps in understanding GHG emissions from agriculture, forests, and wetlands and their mitigation, as well as current research initiatives to address these gaps. The book presents an overview of how economic reasoning can be applied to climate change and illustrates how terrestrial carbon-uptake credits (offset credits) operate within the Kyoto Protocol framework. By identifying gaps in the current understanding of adaptation of mitigation strategies, the book underscores the need to makemanagement of these ecosystems part of a global solution.
Integrating issues of climate modelling, ecological and human dimensions of climate change, and policy implications, this volume addresses the critical problems of climate change from a Southern Hemisphere perspective. However, the spatial focus in the book is not defined just by latitude, but also by geopolitical criteria: encompassing the developing world, the tropics north of the equator, as well as regions south of the equator. The book begins by examining the geographic and geopolitical plurality of the Earth, including north and south distinctions and the science/policy plurality. A hemispheric perspective on coupled climate modelling is then discussed, providing a state-of-the-art summary of climate modelling as it pertains to the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, the book examines the interaction of humanity, the biosphere and the atmosphere, discussing the biospheric effects of climate change, possible climatic impacts of biospheric change, particularly tropical deforestation and the human health implications of climate and climate change.
Atmospheric Research in Antarctica: Present Status and Thrust Areas in Climate Change represents a panoramic view of the developments in the field of Antarctic atmospheric sciences and meteorology broadly covering geomagnetism and aeronomy, middle atmospheric studies and global and climate change studies. It includes greenhouse gases, ozone monitoring as well as very low frequency (VLF) phenomena, and space weather, Antarctic meteorology, and mathematical modeling of atmosphere and ocean processes around Antarctica. Atmospheric electricity and aerosols investigations over Antarctica along with the total solar eclipse-related studies, calibration of AWIFS Sensor, and measurements of positive ions, are also discussed. This book is aimed at researchers and graduate students in atmospheric studies, meteorology, Antarctic studies, climate change. FEATURES: Covers scientific aspects of Antarctic meteorology and atmospheric sciences under climate change scenario Contains diverse set of information with strong bearing on recent and past polar processes Presents integrated research on polar science coupled with meteorological, climatological and atmosphericsciences Thoroughly reviews geomagnetism and aeronomy, middle atmospheric studies including global and climate change studies Helps readers understand how Antarctica's climate has changed in the past and is being affected by 'global warming' and how might we expect its climate to change in the future?
This first interdisciplinary review on how climate affects human behavior provides an introductory framework for research in the field, surveys climatic data around the world, and covers over 3,000 sources. The bibliography is organized topically into chapters dealing with physiological, psychological, sociological, and economic effects of climate on people. The bibliography identifies important sources relating to acclimation, allergies, diet, diseases, affective disorders, aggression, personality, mental illnesses, accidents and injuries, crime, fertility, mortality, migration, suicide, consumer and industrial behavior, macroeconomic policy, and methodologies. A detailed author, subject, and country and regional index make this careful review easily accessible for varied use by students, teachers, researchers, policymakers, and business persons or managers.
" Weather, Climate and Climate Change: Human Perspectives " provides an up-to-date and accessible analysis of one of the most crucial and contentious issues facing the world today - the processes and consequences of natural and human-induced changes in the structure and function of the climate system. The theory of, and evidence for, climate change forms a central role in the text along with how weather and climate impacts on environment and society. Examining the issues as a continuum, the authors present an argument that is both highly topical and contextualised for students and academics alike. Features include:
" Weather, Climate and Climate Change "will be essential reading to students, academics and professionals in the fields of climate, meteorology and global climate change and of broader interest to those in physical geography and environmental studies/science in general." Greg OAHare is Professor of Geography at the University of Derby. John Sweeney is Senior Lecturer in Geography at National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland. Rob Wilby is the Climate Change Science Manager at the Environment Agency, having taken leave of absence from the Department of Geography, King's College London."
Originally published in 1986, this book discusses the value of weather and climate information in government and business decision-making. It issues a strong manifesto for the development of new areas of research requiring the skills of weather scientists, geographers, economists, planners and political scientists. It offers a coherent and non-technical presentation of this climatology, supported with practical guidance on assessing the impacts of weather and climate on human affairs.
Originally published in 1989, this book provides an overview of the economic dimensions of climate and human activities, and considers how the variable nature of the atmosphere must be accepted as an integral part of the management package. It discusses how climatic repercussions can hold major importance for international politics, particularly in the light of the impacts of climatic changes induced by greenhouse gases.
Precipitation drives the dynamics of flows and storages in water systems, making its monitoring essential for water management. Conventionally, precipitation is monitored using in-situ and remote sensors. In-situ sensors are arranged in networks, which are usually sparse, providing continuous observations for long periods at fixed points in space, and due to the high costs of such networks, they are often sub-optimal. To increase the efficiency of the monitoring networks, we explore the use of sensors that can relocate as rainfall events develop (dynamic sensors), as well as increasing the number of sensors involving volunteers (citizens). This research focusses on the development of an approach for merging heterogeneous observations in non-stationary precipitation fields, exploring the interactions between different definitions of optimality for the design of sensor networks, as well as development of algorithms for the optimal scheduling of dynamic sensors. This study was carried out in three different case studies, including Bacchiglione River (Italy), Don River (U.K.) and Brue Catchment (U.K.) The results of this study indicate that optimal use of dynamic sensors may be useful for monitoring precipitation to support water management and flow forecasting.
Originally published in 1970, this book brings together the most significant and pertinent associations between man's economic and social activities, and the variations in the atmospheric environment. Particular emphasis is placed on economic activities and the weather, economic analysis of weather and the benefits and costs of weather knowledge. In addition, some of the sociological, physiological, political, planning and legal aspects of atmospheric resources are discussed. |
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The Royal Meteorological Society…
The Royal Meteorological Society
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