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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 1, NUMBER 6, DECEMBER 1988

BOOKS AND PROCEEDINGS...
SEA LEVEL CHANGE--CAUSES AND IMPACTS

Item #d88dec70

Sea-Level Changes, M.J. Tooley, I. Shennan, eds., 397 pp., 1987. Basil Blackwell (432 Pk. Ave. S, S-1503, New York NY 10016; 108 Crowley Rd. Oxford, OX4 1JF, UK); $75. Reviewed by D.F. Belknap in Science, 241(4871), 1366-1368, Sep. 9, 1988.

A compilation of papers on Quaternary sea-level changes showing the evolution of thought over the last decade. Includes "Sea-Level Changes Resulting from Future Retreat of Ice Sheets: An Effect of CO₂ Warming of the Climate," by J.A. Clark, J.A. Primus, pp. 356-370. A concluding conspectus discusses the debate over greenhouse warming and sea level rise.

Item #d88dec71

Tides, Surges and Mean Sea-Level, A Handbook for Engineers and Scientists, D.T. Pugh, 472 pp., 1987. Wiley & Sons*; $101. Reviewed by H.O. Moffield in Eos, p. 850, Sep. 1988.

The reviewer finds the book valuable as a reference, as a text, and as an introduction to the advances in measurement, analysis and modeling of sea level over the past 20 years. Contains an extensive bibliography.

Item #d88dec72

Responding to Changes in Sea Level. Engineering Implications, Committee on Engineering Implications of Changes in Relative Mean Sea Level, and Marine Board (of the Nat. Res. Council), 148 pp., 1987. Nat. Acad. Press., 2101 Constitution Ave., Washington DC 20418. Reviewed by S.A. Changnon in Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 536-537, May 1988.

Prepared by a committee of geologists and engineers in response to concerns over sea-level rise from global warming. Discusses the problems of uncertainty over past sea levels and inadequacy of data, and discusses response options of stabilization vs. retreat, and concludes that neither alarm nor complacency are warranted. Highly recommended by the reviewer.

Item #d88dec73

Sea-Level Fluctuation and Coastal Evolution, D. Nummedal, O.H. Pilkey, J.D. Howard, eds., 267 pp., 1987. Soc. Econ. Paleontologists & Mineralogists, Spec. Pub. 41; $40 ($32 members). Reviewed extensively by D.C. Kopaska-Merkel in Northeastern Environ. Sci., 6(2), 108-110, 1987.

A compilation of papers intended as a state-of-the-art reference work, three of which deal with recent sea-level rise. The reviewer discusses the relevance to long-term coastal urban planning; much information necessary for informed risk assessment in coastal areas is presented.