This volume sets out the scientific basis for the current understanding of climate change. It synthesizes and collates an extensive scientific knowledge to show why climate is changing, and the consequences of those changes. Starting with global carbon cycling over geological history of the Earth, the behavior of the carbon cycle is traced back millions of years prior to human influence and shows that the current atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is unprecedented, which cannot be found in geological records of at least the past two million years. This book sets the foundation for understanding the contemporary carbon cycling, and shows that the contemporary carbon cycling cannot be isolated from geologic history of carbon cycle. This volume also describes the role of carbon sequestration - both natural ecological, engineered and geoengineered options - for mitigating the increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration. The role of emerging chemical sequestration and climate engineering as future alternatives to avoid dangerous temperature increase are explored. Although the targeted audience is the educators, students, researchers and scientific community, the simplified analysis and synthesis of current and up to date scientific literature makes the volume easier to understand and a tool policy makers can use to make an informed policy decisions.

Résumé
This book provides an understanding of the role of human activities in accelerating change in global carbon cycling summarizes current knowledge of the contemporary carbon budget. Starting from the geological history, this volume follows a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the role of human activities in perturbing carbon cycling by quantifying changes in different reservoirs and fluxes of carbon with emphasis on the anthropogenic activities, especially after the industrial revolution. It covers the role of different mitigation options natural ecological, engineered, and geoengineered processes as well as the emerging field of climate engineering in avoiding dangerous abrupt climate change. Although the targeted audience is the educators, students, researchers and scientific community, the simplified analysis and synthesis of current and up to date scientific literature makes the volume easier to understand and a tool policy makers can use to make an informed policy decisions.

Contenu

Chapter 1: Introduction: Climate Overview.- Chapter 2: Variability and Change In Climate.-Chapter 3: Introduction to Global Carbon Cycling: An Overview of the Global Carbon Cycle.- Chapter 4: The Global Carbon Inventory.- Chapter 5: Historical Perspectives of the Global Carbon Cycle.- Chapter 6: The Modern Carbon Cycle.- Chapter 7: Historical and Contemporary Global Methane Cycling.- Chapter 8: Mitigation of Climate Change: Introduction.- Chapter 9: Introduction to Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration.- Chapter 10: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Under Agriculture and Livestock Landuse.- Chapter 11: Global Forests Management for Climate Change Mitigation.- Chapter 12: The Role of Bioenergy in Mitigating Climate Change.- Chapter 13: Carbon Capture and Storage in Geologic Formations.