Introduction to modern climate change 2nd edition andrew dessler pdf

INT RODUCT ION T O MODERN CL IMAT E CHANG E , S ECOND ED IT ION

This is an invaluable textbook for any introductory survey course on the science and policy of climate change, for both non–science majors and introductory science students. The second edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the most recent science from the latest IPCC reports, and many illustrations include new data. The new edition also reflects advances in the political debate over climate change. Unique among textbooks on climate change, this text combines an introduction to the science with an introduction to economic and policy issues, and it focuses closely on anthropogenic climate change. It contains the necessary quantitative depth for students to properly understand the science of climate change. It supports students in using algebra to understand simple equations and to solve end-of-chapter problems. Supplementary online resources include a complete set of PowerPoint figures for instructors, solutions to exercises, videos of the author's lectures, and additional computer exercises.

Andrew Dessler is a climate scientist who studies both the science and politics of climate change. His scientific research revolves around climate feedbacks, in particular how water vapor and clouds act to amplify warming from the carbon dioxide that human activities emit. During the last year of the Clinton administration, he served as a senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Based on his research and policy experience, he has authored two books on climate change: this textbook and The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate (co-written with Edward Parson; second edition published in 2010). This textbook won the 2014 American Meteorological Society Louis J. Battan Author's Award. In recognition of his work on outreach, in 2011 he was named a Google Science Communication Fellow. He is presently a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University. His

educational background includes a B.A. in physics from Rice University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University. He also undertook postdoctoral work at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and spent nine years on the research faculty of the University of Maryland.

INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CLIMATE CHANGE

Second Edition Andrew Dessler

Texas A&M University

32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA

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Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107480674

© Andrew Dessler 2016

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of

Cambridge University Press.

First published 2016

Printed in the United States of America

A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Dessler, Andrew Emory.

Introduction to modern climate change / Andrew Dessler, Texas A&M University. – [Second edition].

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-107-09682-0

1. Climatic changes. 2. Climatic changes – Government policy. I. Title.

QC903.D46 2016

551.6–dc23 2015014701

ISBN 978-1-107-09682-0 Hardback

ISBN 978-1-107-48067-4 Paperback

Additional resources for this publication at www.andrewdessler.com

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such

Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

http://www.cambridge.org
http://www.cambridge.org/9781107480674
http://www.andrewdessler.com
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Contents Preface Acknowledgments

An introduction to the climate problem

Is the climate changing?

Radiation and energy balance

A simple climate model

The carbon cycle

Forcing, feedbacks, and climate sensitivity

Why is the climate changing?

Predictions of future climate change

Impacts of climate change

Exponential growth