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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 11, NUMBER 9, SEPTEMBER 1998

RECENT BOOKS AND PROCEEDINGS

Information given in the annotations is frequently taken from publishers’ promotional literature. Prices and page numbers may be approximate; contact publisher for details and additional information on content. Publishers are named in parentheses at the end of each citation; addresses, when known, are listed at the end of this section. In most cases, books advertised by publishers with an expected publication date are not listed here until actually in print.

Item #d98sep19

Global Climate Change: Meeting Post-2000 Emissions Targets and Timetables, J. C. White and W. R. Wagner (Eds.), 250 pp., 1997, $30 pbk (Center for Environmental Information); also available online at http://www.rochesterenvironment.org/.

These proceedings of a late-1996 conference review the U.S. commitment to greenhouse-gas reduction prior to the Kyoto Accord, discuss the forces that drive decision making in such instances as the development of an international protocol, consider alternative means (e.g., tradeable permits and joint implementation) for meeting reduction targets, and consider methods (e.g., advancing technology and establishing control systems) for implementing a reduction strategy.

Item #d98sep20

Climate Processes and Change, Edward Bryant, 209 pp., 1997, $22.95 pbk, $59.95 hbk (Cambridge Univ. Press).

This book considers the past climate record and postulates several causes for the changes observed, presents an overview of climate forcing, describes processes that may operate in the atmosphere, and discusses human-health impacts of climate change. G. S. Jenkins reviewed it in Eos 79, 239 (May 19, 1998), saying that it lacks the “detail and explanation necessary for understanding complex processes responsible for climate change” and that “some of the ideas proposed are speculative.” T. F. Stocker in reviewing it in Nature 391, 552 (Feb. 5, 1998) was not as kind, saying that the book “contains very little—and often sloppy—physics,” cites concepts “unknown to dynamical meteorologists,” and presents “a narrow and often incorrect view of ocean circulation processes.”

Item #d98sep21

Biogeochemical Cycles: A Computer Interactive Study of Earth System Science and Global Change, W. L. Chameides and E. M. Perdue, 224 pp., 1997, $49.95 (Oxford Univ. Press).

In a very readable fashion, this text describes the basic chemistry, biogeochemical reactions, and cycles of the life- supporting elements (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen sulfur, and phosphorus) in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and crust of the Earth. Included is a computer program that models the various biogeochemical cycles and their interactions. With it, the user can experiment with variations in the cycles and see what alterations in their behavior result. In his review in Eos 79, 291 (July 23, 1998), F. T. Mackenzie noted that the book’s best features are “its overview of the biogeochemical cycles of the life-essential elements”; “its explanation of the principal mechanisms and processes that determine their cycling behavior, their reservoirs, and their fluxes”; and “its utilization of mathematical and numerical modeling as a means of transforming qualitative descriptions of the biogeochemical cycles into a quantitative analysis of the dynamics of the cycles.”

Item #d98sep22

Health and Climate Change: Modeling the Impacts of Global Warming and Ozone Depletion, Pim Martens, 176 pp., 1998, £15 pbk (Earthscan).

Eco-epidemiology is the use of computer models to project the future incidence of disease and other medical conditions as the environment changes. As such, it is a new departure for medicine. This book looks at the application of eco-epidemiology to the health effects of climate change and ozone depletion and at the modeling tools used to analyze those effects. The specific effects studied are geographic shifts in vector-borne pathogens and disease, alterations in thermal stress and mortality, and skin-cancer incidence. In Nature 393, 534 (June 11, 1998), G. A. Gellert calls this book “a rigorous intro-duction ... well organized and thoughtful... a solid contribution to an important, underexamined and scientifically complex discipline.” In an “editorial review essay” in Climate Change 30 (1), 39-46 (1998), Jonathan Patz calls the “well written” book “a significant public health contribution,” successfully demonstrating “an important tool in the armament for longterm health risk assessment.” He goes on to point out that “mathematical models can at least achieve a better conceptual representation of complex systems, and well- conceptualized models help identify key knowledge gaps.” Such models come with caveats, though: “Although many parameter values in the subsystems are based on laboratory data, it is difficult to know how such values behave in the field. Also, GCM climate projections approximate a resolution of 250 km diameter grid boxes, whereas it is at the microclimate level that mosquitos and ticks respond. ... Future site-specific parameterization will be required ... to be useful for local preventive health policies. ... The assumptions and caveats behind the analyses in Health and Climate Change are clearly stated [but] easily forgotten; ... more studies are required ... to provide decision makers with probability distributions. ... More comprehensive integration, including social and economic factors, is an important next step to include ... however, the larger and more complex a model becomes, the harder the results are to interpret.” “Health and Climate Change describes a conservative approach in linking the respective climate and disease models. Martens delivers a systems-based simulation, but avoids ?over-building’ the models.”

Item #d98sep23

Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change, J. A. A. Jones et al. (Eds.), 440 pp., 1996, $199 (Kluwer).

This work is a peer-reviewed proceedings of the 1992, 1993, and 1995 meetings of the International Geographical Union Working Group on Regional Hydrological Response to Climate Change and Global Warming. Includes papers on the global hydrosphere, regional implications of global warming, precipitation variability and change, snow and meltwater, and water resources.

Additional Reviews of Previous Entries

Item #d98sep24

Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change, 2nd. Ed., W. H. Schlesinger, 588 pp., 1997, $49.95 pbk. (Academic Press). (Global Climate Change Digest, Nov. 1997)

Reviewed by S. W. Leavitt in Eos 79, 20 (Jan. 13, 1998), who evaluated it as “an outstanding contribution to the rapidly evolving, multidisciplinary field of biogeochemistry, as related to global change. As a text book, it would be most suitable for upper-level undergraduate or graduate classes, a useful reference for established global-change researchers, and a particularly valuable primer for hydrologists, meteorologists, and geologists seeking to delve into biogeochemistry.”

Item #d98sep25

The Endangered Atmosphere: Preserving a Global Commons, M. S. Soroos, 1997, $39.95 hbk./$19.95 pbk. (Univ. S.C.). (Global Climate Change Digest, Jan. 1998)

Reviewed by R. A. Pielke, Jr., in Eos 79, 283 (June 16, 1998), who concluded that “the book’s excellent historical chapters are not matched by its analysis. In search of conceptual neatness, the book fails to fully engage the issues in a practical manner, rendering the cases almost unrecognizable.”

Item #d98sep26

Climate Change and the Global Harvest: Potential Impacts of the Greenhouse Effect on Agriculture, C. Rosenzweig, D. Hillel, 352 pp., Jan. 1998, $65/£49.50 (Oxford Univ.). (Global Climate Change Digest, Jan. 1998)

Reviewed in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (6), 1120 (June 1998) and by P. D. Moore in Nature 393, 33-34 (May 7, 1998) who said that the authors “are cautious in their predictions, but their book must rank as the most integrated, informative and accessible account of the complexities of this subject.”

Item #d98sep27

Does the Weather Really Matter? The Social Implications of Climate Change, W. Burroughs, 242 pp., $24.95, 1997 (Cambridge). (Global Climate Change Digest, Jan. 1998)

Reviewed by R. A. Pielke, Jr., in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (3), 472-474 (March 1998), who comments, “While this book does not answer the question asked in its title, and climate impacts researchers will find the quality of its analyses mixed, it is nonetheless a worthwhile read for the nonspecialist, and several sections based on the author’s experiences in both science and policy worlds are of particular relevance to physical scientists.”

Also reviewed by J. S. Perry in Climate Change 38 (3), 255-259 (1998), who says, “Burroughs’ volume is a floodlight seeking to illuminate its entire jungle of complexities. An atmospheric physicist, sometime diplomat and policymaker, and science journalist, Burroughs brings a unique kit of tools to his task and wields them with great skill and impressive effect.”

Item #d98sep28

Currents of Change: El Niño’s Impact on Climate and Society, M. H. Glantz, 194 pp., 1996, $59.95/£40 hbk., $19.95/£14.95 pbk. (Cambridge Univ.). (Global Climate Change Digest, Feb. 1997)

Reviewed by J. S. Perry in Climate Change 38 (3), 255-259 (1998), who says, “Glantz provides us with an encyclopedic and scholarly monograph on the El Niño phenomenon ... [and] skillfully and clearly delineates the definitions and taxonomy of these phenomena, providing a wonderfully concise primer for the lay reader.”

Item #d98sep29

The Sea Surface and Global Change, P. S. Liss, R. A. Duce, Eds., 496 pp., 1996, $74.95 (Cambridge Univ.). (Global Climate Change Digest, Dec. 1996)

Reviewed by Kristina Katsaros in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (7), 1428-1429 (July 1998), who called it an excellent and lively book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. ... Any student or researcher concerned with the microlayer would benefit from the collection of reviews that this book represents.”

Item #d98sep30

Earth Under Siege—From Air Pollution to Global Change, R. P. Turco, 480 pp., 1996, $50 hbk./$21.95 pbk. (Oxford). (Global Climate Change Digest, Dec. 1996)

Reviewed by R. S. Dickerson in Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 79 (4), 1428-1429 (April 1998), who says that, “for the most part, Turco’s book is completely new and original. The wide-ranging discourse would be a wonderful text for an undergraduate course and makes good reading to even experts in atmospheric science.”

Item #d98sep31

As Climate Changes: International Impacts and Implications, K. M. Strzepek, J. B. Smith, Eds., 340 pp., 1995, $55.96 hbk/$23.96 pbk (Cambridge). (Global Climate Change Digest, Oct. 1995)

Reviewed by James Risbey in Climate Change 39, 135-139 (1998), who says “There is much for all of us to learn from this book—it is an indication of how far we have come as a field in a relatively short period of time, and of where we are going.”