Paleoclimatology

Paleoclimatology: Reconstructing Climates of the Quaternary, Third Edition-winner of a 2015 Textbook Excellence Award (Texty) from The Text and Academic Authors Association-provides a thorough overview of the methods of paleoclimatic reconstruction and of the historical changes in climate during the past three million years.

This thoroughly updated and revised edition systematically examines each type of proxy and elucidates the major attributes and the limitations of each. Paleoclimatology, Third Edition provides necessary context for those interested in understanding climate changes at present and how current trends in climate compare with changes that have occurred in the past. The text is richly illustrated and includes an extensive bibliography for further research.

• Winner of a 2015 Texty Award from the Text and Academic Authors Association
• A comprehensive overview of the methods of paleoclimate reconstruction, and the record of past changes in climate during the last ~3 million years
• Addresses all the techniques used in paleoclimatic reconstruction from climate proxies
• With full-color throughout, and thoroughly revised chapters on dating methods, climate forcing, ice cores, marine sediments, pollen analysis, dendroclimatology, and historical records
• Includes new chapters on speleothems, loess, and lake sediments
• More than 1,000 new references and 190 new figures
• Essential reading for those interested in how present trends in climate compare with changes that have occurred in the past

Autorentext

Raymond S. Bradley has been involved in many national and international activities related to paleoclimatology, most notably as the current Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program on Past Global Changes (IGBP-PAGES). He has published dozens of articles in scientific journals, and has edited several important books in paleoclimatology. The first edition of Quaternary Paleoclimatology has been the definitive text in this field for over a decade. His research is in climatology, specifically in climatic change and the evidence for how the earth's climate has varied in the past. He has carried out research on climate variation, both on the long (glacial and interglacial) time-scale and on the short (historical and instrumental) time-scale, involving the analysis of data from all over the world. In recent years he has been involved in studies of natural climate variability, to provide a background for understanding potential anthropogenic changes in climate resulting from rapid increases in "greenhouse gases" over the last century or so. R.S. Bradley has been a professor in the Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, since 1984. He has been Head of the Department of Geosciences since 1993. Additionally, he is a member of Clare Hall at Cambridge.

Inhalt

1. Paleoclimatic reconstruction 2. Climate and climatic variation 3. Dating methods I 4. Dating methods II 5. Ice cores 6. Marine sediments 7. Loess 8. Speleothems 9. Lake sediments 10. Non-marine geological evidence 11. Insects and other biological evidence from continental regions 12. Pollen 13. Tree rings 14. Corals 15. Historical documents

Appendix 1: Further considerations on radiocarbon dating Appendix 2: Internet resources in paleoclimatology