Full Description
We know a great deal about historical climate and its variations from various geo logical studies. There are two points worth remarking on. One is that the climate changes frequently and radically, but that the degree of variation and even sense of variation depends on the time scale which we are considering. Secondly, that this is a most unusual geological period for the Planet Earth; we are living in a period of mountain building and glaciations, whereas during most of the last 250 million years (m.y.) there was little ice and little topography. A good view of climate change of the last hundred m.y. can be gained by looking at the paper of Kellogg. We are now in a period of extensive glaciations. The previous interval occurred 300 to 250 m.y. ago, when even the Sahara was glaciated. (Of course, it was at that time near the position of the South Pole; we know that 300 m.y. ago the continents had not broken apart and formed one land mass.) Apparently between 250 and 20 m.y. ago there was little ice on the Earth, even at Antarctica. Continental basins were flooded by shallow seas. This was the period when plant life and marine life proliferated and when most of our fossil fuels were laid down.
Contents
I / Overviews on Global Effects of Pollution.- Pollution Effects on Global Climate — An Introduction.- Climate Change and the Influence of Man's Activities on the Global Environment.- Environmental Effects of Energy Production.- II / Chemical Balance of Gases in the Earth's Atmosphere.- The Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Balance in the Earth's Atmosphere.- Impact of Land and Sea Pollution on the Chemical Stability of the Atmosphere.- The Dependence of Atmospheric Temperature on the Concentration of Carbon Dioxide.- Exchange of CO2 Between Atmosphere and Sea Water: Possible Enzymatic Control of the Rate.- The Global Balance of Carbon Monoxide.- Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants from Urban and Natural Sources.- Global Stratospheric Effects of Supersonic Transports.- III / Effects of Atmospheric Pollution on Climate.- Climatic Effects of Atmospheric Pollution.- A Reassessment of Atmospheric Pollution as a Cause of Long-Term Changes of Global Temperature.- Cloudiness and the Radiative, Convective Equilibrium.- The Inadvertent Modification of the Atmosphere by Air Pollution.- Man-Made Climatic Changes.- The Upward Trend in Airborne Particulates that Isn't.- IV / Worldwide Ocean Pollution by Toxic Wastes.- Man's Role in the Major Sedimentary Cycle.- DDT in the Biosphere: Where Does It Go?.- Biological Implications of Global Marine Pollution.- Interactions Between Oceans and Terrestrial Ecosystems.- V / Nitrogen Compounds in Soil, Water, Atmosphere and Precipitation.- Threats to the Integrity of the Nitrogen Cycle: Nitrogen Compounds in Soil, Water, Atmosphere and Precipitation.- The Dynamics of Nitrogen Transformations in the Soil.- Nitrogen Compounds Used in Crop Production.- Man-Induced Eutrophication of Lakes.- About the Authors.- Index of Names.- Index of Subjects.
