Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America

Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America PDF Author: Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048128285
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
Climatologists with an eye on the past have any number of sources for their work, from personal diaries to weather station reports. Piecing together the trajectory of a weather event can thus be a painstaking process taking years and involving real detective work. Missing pieces of a climate puzzle can come from very far afield, often in unlikely places. In this book, a series of case studies examine specific regions across North America, using instrumental and documentary data from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Extreme weather events such as the Sitka hurricane of 1880 are recounted in detail, while the chapters also cover more widespread phenomena such as the collapse of the Low Country rice culture. The book also looks at the role of weather station histories in complementing the instrumental record, and sets out the methods that involve early instrumental and documentary climate data. Finally, the book’s focus on North America reflects the fact that the historical climate community there has only grown relatively recently. Up to now, most such studies have focused on Europe and Asia. The four sections begin with regional case studies, and move on to reconstruct extreme events and parameters. This is followed by the role of station history and, lastly, methodologies and other analyses. The editors’ aim has been to produce a volume that would be instrumental in molding the next generation of historical climatologists. They designed this book for use by general researchers as well as in upper-level undergraduate or graduate level courses.

Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America

Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America PDF Author: Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9048128285
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

Get Book

Book Description
Climatologists with an eye on the past have any number of sources for their work, from personal diaries to weather station reports. Piecing together the trajectory of a weather event can thus be a painstaking process taking years and involving real detective work. Missing pieces of a climate puzzle can come from very far afield, often in unlikely places. In this book, a series of case studies examine specific regions across North America, using instrumental and documentary data from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Extreme weather events such as the Sitka hurricane of 1880 are recounted in detail, while the chapters also cover more widespread phenomena such as the collapse of the Low Country rice culture. The book also looks at the role of weather station histories in complementing the instrumental record, and sets out the methods that involve early instrumental and documentary climate data. Finally, the book’s focus on North America reflects the fact that the historical climate community there has only grown relatively recently. Up to now, most such studies have focused on Europe and Asia. The four sections begin with regional case studies, and move on to reconstruct extreme events and parameters. This is followed by the role of station history and, lastly, methodologies and other analyses. The editors’ aim has been to produce a volume that would be instrumental in molding the next generation of historical climatologists. They designed this book for use by general researchers as well as in upper-level undergraduate or graduate level courses.

Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America

Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America PDF Author: Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789048128297
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book

Book Description
Climatologists with an eye on the past have any number of sources for their work, from personal diaries to weather station reports. Piecing together the trajectory of a weather event can thus be a painstaking process taking years and involving real detective work. Missing pieces of a climate puzzle can come from very far afield, often in unlikely places. In this book, a series of case studies examine specific regions across North America, using instrumental and documentary data from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Extreme weather events such as the Sitka hurricane of 1880 are recounted in detail, while the chapters also cover more widespread phenomena such as the collapse of the Low Country rice culture. The book also looks at the role of weather station histories in complementing the instrumental record, and sets out the methods that involve early instrumental and documentary climate data. Finally, the book’s focus on North America reflects the fact that the historical climate community there has only grown relatively recently. Up to now, most such studies have focused on Europe and Asia. The four sections begin with regional case studies, and move on to reconstruct extreme events and parameters. This is followed by the role of station history and, lastly, methodologies and other analyses. The editors’ aim has been to produce a volume that would be instrumental in molding the next generation of historical climatologists. They designed this book for use by general researchers as well as in upper-level undergraduate or graduate level courses.

Climate Change in North America

Climate Change in North America PDF Author: George Ohring
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319037684
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This book describes thoroughly the North American Climate of the past 65 million years, with special emphasis on the last 21,000 years, as revealed by paleoclimatic observations and climate models. It analyzes weather observations over the past century and satellite measurements of the last few decades to develop a picture of more recent climatic trends. It explains how global climate models are used to simulate and project climate, and presents the application of these models to reproduce recent climate variations and predict future North American climate. It answers the critical question of whether observed climate change is due to natural variations or human activity.

Decade-to-Century-Scale Climate Variability and Change

Decade-to-Century-Scale Climate Variability and Change PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309060982
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Society today may be more vulnerable to global-scale, long-term, climate change than ever before. Even without any human influence, past records show that climate can be expected to continue to undergo considerable change over decades to centuries. Measures for adaption and mitigation will call for policy decisions based on a sound scientific foundation. Better understanding and prediction of climate variations can be achieved most efficiently through a nationally recognized "dec-cen" science plan. This book articulates the scientific issues that must be addressed to advance us efficiently toward that understanding and outlines the data collection and modeling needed.

Cultural Dynamics of Climate Change and the Environment in Northern America

Cultural Dynamics of Climate Change and the Environment in Northern America PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004300716
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Global warming interacts in multiple ways with ecological and social systems in Northern America. While the US and Canada belong to the world’s largest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases, the Arctic north of the continent as well as the Deep South are already affected by a changing climate. In Cultural Dynamics of Climate Change and the Environment in Northern America academics from various fields such as anthropology, art history, educational studies, cultural studies, environmental science, history, political science, and sociology explore society–nature interactions in – culturally as well as ecologically – one of the most diverse regions of the world. Contributors include: Omer Aijazi, Roland Benedikter, Maxwell T. Boykoff, Eugene Cordero, Martin David, Demetrius Eudell, Michael K. Goodman, Frederic Hanusch, Naotaka Hayashi, Jürgen Heinrichs, Grit Martinez, Antonia Mehnert, Angela G. Mertig, Michael J. Paolisso, Eleonora Rohland, Karin Schürmann, Bernd Sommer, Kenneth M. Sylvester, Anne Marie Todd, Richard Tucker, and Sam White.

Climate Change Impacts on the United States - Foundation Report

Climate Change Impacts on the United States - Foundation Report PDF Author: National Assessment Synthesis Team
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521000758
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 660

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Book Description
Climate Change Impacts on the United States is part of a national process of research analysis and dialogue about the coming changes in climate, their impacts, and what Americans can do to adapt to an uncertain and continuously changing climate. The report was called for by a 1990 law and was written by the National Assessment Synthesis Team (NAST), a committee of experts drawn from governments, universities, industry, and non-governmental organizations. The NAST produced two documents: the longer Foundation Report and the Overview Report, which is significantly more accessible and shorter. The two reports cover all areas of the United States and are peer-reviewed documents that synthesize results from studies. They identify key climatic vulnerabilities of particular regions and sectors in the context of other changes in the nation's environment, resources, and economy.

Climatic and Ecological Change in the Americas

Climatic and Ecological Change in the Americas PDF Author: James Andrew Whitaker
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000924386
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This book offers a comparative analysis of the experiences, responses, and adaptations of people to climate variability and environmental change across the Americas. It foregrounds historical ecology as a structural framework for understanding the climate change crisis throughout the region and throughout time. In recent years, Indigenous and local populations in particular have experienced climate change effects such as altered weather patterns, seasonal irregularities, flooding and drought, and difficulties relating to subsistence practices. Understanding and dealing with these challenges has drawn on peoples’ longstanding experience with climate variability and in some cases includes models of mitigation and responses that are millennia old. With contributions from specialists across the Americas, this volume will be of interest to scholars from fields including anthropology, archaeology, geography, environmental studies, and Indigenous studies.

Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability

Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309444640
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
Many factors contribute to variability in Earth's climate on a range of timescales, from seasons to decades. Natural climate variability arises from two different sources: (1) internal variability from interactions among components of the climate system, for example, between the ocean and the atmosphere, and (2) natural external forcings, such as variations in the amount of radiation from the Sun. External forcings on the climate system also arise from some human activities, such as the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols. The climate that we experience is a combination of all of these factors. Understanding climate variability on the decadal timescale is important to decision-making. Planners and policy makers want information about decadal variability in order to make decisions in a range of sectors, including for infrastructure, water resources, agriculture, and energy. In September 2015, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to examine variability in Earth's climate on decadal timescales, defined as 10 to 30 years. During the workshop, ocean and climate scientists reviewed the state of the science of decadal climate variability and its relationship to rates of human-caused global warming, and they explored opportunities for improvement in modeling and observations and assessing knowledge gaps. Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions

Past Climate Variability in South America and Surrounding Regions PDF Author: Francoise Vimeux
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 904812672X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
South America is a unique place where a number of past climate archives are ava- able from tropical to high latitude regions. It thus offers a unique opportunity to explore past climate variability along a latitudinal transect from the Equator to Polar regions and to study climate teleconnections. Most climate records from tropical and subtropical South America for the past 20,000 years have been interpreted as local responses to shift in the mean position and intensity of the InterTropical Conv- gence Zone due to tropical and extratropical forcings or to changes in the South American Summer Monsoon. Further South, the role of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds on global climate has been highly investigated with both paleodata and coupled climate models. However the regional response over South America during the last 20,000 years is much more variable from place to place than pre- ously thought. The factors that govern the spatial patterns of variability on millennial scale resolution are still to be understood. The question of past natural rates and ranges of climate conditions over South America is therefore of special relevance in this context since today millions of people live under climates where any changes in monsoon rainfall can lead to catastrophic consequences.

Natural Climate Variability on Decade-to-Century Time Scales

Natural Climate Variability on Decade-to-Century Time Scales PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309054494
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 645

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Book Description
This volume reflects the current state of scientific knowledge about natural climate variability on decade-to-century time scales. It covers a wide range of relevant subjects, including the characteristics of the atmosphere and ocean environments as well as the methods used to describe and analyze them, such as proxy data and numerical models. They clearly demonstrate the range, persistence, and magnitude of climate variability as represented by many different indicators. Not only do natural climate variations have important socioeconomic effects, but they must be better understood before possible anthropogenic effects (from greenhouse gas emissions, for instance) can be evaluated. A topical essay introduces each of the disciplines represented, providing the nonscientist with a perspective on the field and linking the papers to the larger issues in climate research. In its conclusions section, the book evaluates progress in the different areas and makes recommendations for the direction and conduct of future climate research. This book, while consisting of technical papers, is also accessible to the interested layperson.