Product Data Technology encompasses the information related to all stages in the product life cycle from product design via production planning, production processes, production control, etc. through the delivery and operational stages of the technical product. Product Data Technology takes a coherent, unified view of the information captured in this whole life cycle and provides methodologies to support this integrated perspective. The Product Data Technology Advisory Group (pDTAG), is a Special Interest Group supported by the CIME Division within DG m of the European Commission. Founded in 1991, the PDTAG has encouraged the formation of a new subseries on Product Data Technology within the existing series of Research Reports ESPRIT. This subseries will provide a depository for the important contributions made by ESPRIT projects to the evolving area of Product Data Technology, particularly also those based on the STEP (ISO 10303). PDTAG is grateful to Springer Publishers for establishing this subseries which will serve to report recent international developments in Product Data Technology.

Iceland provides an unique stage on which to study the natural environment, both past and present, and it is understanding both aspects of reconstructing the past and observing and interpreting the present that form the focus of the contributions to this volume.

The papers are all written by active researchers and incorporate both reviews and new data. Although concentrating largely on the recent Quaternary timescale a wide range of topics is explored including subglacial volcanism, onshore and offshore evidence for the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent deglaciation, current glacial characteristics including jokulhlaups and glacial landsystems, soil development, Holocene ecosystem change, current oceanography, impacts of volcanic sulphur loading, chemical weathering and the CO2 budget and documentary evidence for historical climate.

The key element of the volume is that for the first time it provides a wide overview of a range of topics for which Iceland provides an almost unparalleled laboratory emphasizing the importance of research on this small island for studies over a much broader global scale. These reviews point the way to future research directions and are supplemented by extensive illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography.
* Wide range of related topics covered both from a present day and quaternary perspective
* Reviews from scientists active in each research area across a range of subjects providing both overviews and new data supplemented by an extensive bibliography
* Extensive illustrations and examples from the field