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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 5, NOVEMBER 1988

BOOKS AND PROCEEDINGS...
GENERAL

Item #d88nov55

The Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security--Conference Statement, 12 pp., Sep. 1988. In English and French. Request from H.L. Ferguson, Conf. Dir., Atmos. Environ. Svc., 4905 Dufferin St., Downsview, Ont. M3H 5T4, Can. (416-665-4760).

Statement from the Toronto conference held June 27-30, 1988 that concluded immediate action is imperative to address ozone depletion, global warming and sea-level rise, and acidification by atmospheric pollutants. (See Global Climate Change Digest, NEWS, Aug. 1988) It called for work on an international Action Plan for the Protection of the Atmosphere that would guide national legislation on harmful emissions, and establishment of a World Atmosphere Fund financed in part by levies on fossil fuel combustion in industrialized countries. This document describes the scientific, economic and social concerns, and specific calls for action to governments, industry, and non-governmental organizations. Specific recommendations of working groups are given for energy, food security, urbanization and settlement, water, land, coastal and marine resources, futures and forecasting, decision-making and uncertainty, industry trade and investment, geopolitical issues, legal issues, integrated programs. The full conference proceedings is in preparation.

Item #d88nov56

Monitoring Climate for the Effects of Increasing Greenhouse Gas Concentrations, T.G.F. Kittel, R.A. Pielke, eds., 195 pp., 1988. Order from Coop. Inst. for Res. Atmos. (CIRA), Col. State Univ., Fort Collins CO 80523; $40 prepaid or purchase order.

A compendium of nine papers from an August 1987 workshop at CIRA involving climate modelers and observational scientists. Observational studies do not find statistically significant trends because of low signal-to-noise ratios; improvements are needed in both climate simulations and observational data for successful climate change detection. Monitoring could be guided by model predictions that identify climatic measures and geographical regions with high signal (climate change) to noise ratios, but improved parameterizations of physical processes are needed. Developing regional level predictions is a priority for model validation and for monitoring. Climatic data bases also need to be improved for model validation and monitoring; recommended are improved documentation of station history, maintaining or increasing station density, and continued development of space-based remote sensing.

Item #d88nov57

Climate Shocks: Natural and Anthropogenic, K.Ya. Kondratyev (trans. from Russian by A.P. Kostrova), 296 pp., 1988. John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York NY 10158; $52.50.

Investigates possible impact of multiple nuclear atmospheric explosions using data from Soviet nuclear tests in the '50s and '60s. Considers two natural analogs to nuclear effects, greenhouse gas increases and volcanic eruptions; extrapolates the more serious consequences of nuclear explosions using modeling and observations; explores the Tunguska event of 1908.

Item #d88nov58

Forecasting in the Social and Natural Sciences, K.C. Land, ed., 381 pp., 1987. Pub. by D. Reidel. Order in U.S. through Kluwer Academ. Pubs., 190 Old Derby St., Hingham MA 02043; $78.

Papers from a 1984 Boulder, Col. conference aimed at forecasting large-scale systems. (See also Global Climate Change Digest, PROF. PUBS./SPECIAL ISSUE: SOCIAL AND CLIMATIC FORECASTING, Oct. 1988.) Discusses organizational and political context of applied forecasting; reviews state of the art of forecasting models and methods; discusses predictability, implications of forecast errors, model linkage, etc.

Item #d88nov59

"Further Comments on John Hamaker's Book, The Survival of Civilization," A.B. Pittock, Clim. Change, 10(1), 97-100, Feb. 1987. Continues critical discussion of the claims of Hamaker and his followers that an ice age is impending, and that certain segments of the scientific community, media, and industry have conspired to suppress this.