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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 2, NUMBER 2, FEBRUARY 1989

REPORTS...
PHYSICAL SCIENCES

Item #d89feb21

Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World--Antarctica (Prof. Paper 1386-B), C. Swithinbank, T.J. Chinn et al., 278 pp., 1988. U.S. Geological Survey, 904 National Ctr., Reston VA 22092. Order from Books and Open-Files Reports, USGS, Denver Fed. Ctr., Box 25425, Denver CO 80225; $40.

This is the first chapter completed of an 11-chapter volume that will cover glaciers of the world, being coordinated by the USGS and involving 50 scientists from 30 countries. It provides a snapshot of glacial extent, useful for comparing with previously published or future maps and photos to determine areal fluctuations of glaciers in response to natural or induced climate changes. Antarctica is critical in climate change because it contains about 91% of the world's glacial ice. This chapter has brief descriptions of features in 62 selected Landsat images, plus 38 oblique aerial photos to help show important features beyond the satellite coverage, and several digitally enhanced color images.

Item #d89feb22

Regional Intercomparisons of General Circulation Model Predictions and Historical Climate Data: CO₂ (DOE/NBB-0084), S.L. Grotch (Lawrence Livermore Nat. Lab., Calif.), 307 pp., Apr. 1988. Sponsored by U.S. Dept. Energy. Order DE88-010416/XAB from Nat. Tech. Info. Svc., 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield VA 22161 (703-487-4650); $33.95 for paper copy to North America; microfiche $9.50.

Predictions of seasonally and annually averaged surface air temperature and precipitation were compared among four general circulation models (NCAR, GFDL, GISS, OSU) for current climatic conditions and for doubled atmospheric CO₂. Although model results often agreed well over large areas, substantial disagreement appeared in regional distributions (below continental scale), particularly for land gridpoints during the northern hemisphere summer, with differences between models and observations or between models of as much as 5 ° C.