Overview
- Provides an independent and complete summary of the latest data on ice ages
- Explores theories and makes comparisons with the all the available data
- Acts as a primary textbook on ice ages and a secondary text on climate change
- Uniquely reviews all information known about ice ages in a scientific format
- The premier reference and sourcebook on ice ages
- Unmatched by any other book in the extent and depth of its coverage
Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)
Part of the book sub series: Environmental Sciences (ENVIRONSCI)
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Table of contents (11 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
Ice ages represent perhaps the most dramatic example of extreme climate change on the Earth. Understanding how and why ice ages occur is of great importance in our wider understanding of the global climate system and how it might change. If one examines Greenland ice data for the past 100,000 years, it becomes very clear that the relatively warm period of the past 11,000 years stand out in striking contrast to the 90,000 years of extreme cold that preceded it. We now refer to the unusually warm period that we are in at the present time as an interglacial; the long preceding period of cold is a glacial or ice age. During the last ice age, humans developed elaborate tools and homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Europe, but it wasn’t until that ice age ended 11,000 years ago that agriculture began and with it the foundation of modern civilization. It is therefore not surprising that there is enormous interest in trying to work out the mechanisms which trigger ice ages to begin, and what causes them to end. Of particular interest is the fact that ice ages appear to begin and end very abruptly on the geological timescale.
Previous and existing books on ice ages are mostly short, popular and non-technical. This book will provide an independent and complete summary of the latest data, independent of theory or analysis, before exploring theories and making comparisons with that data. Professor Donald Rapp has had a long and varied scientific and engineering career, with 48 years of experience in different fields. He has published many scientific papers and five books, including Assessing Climate Change, published by Springer-Praxis in December 2007.
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Ice Ages and Interglacials
Book Subtitle: Measurements, Interpretation and Models
Authors: Donald Rapp
Series Title: Springer Praxis Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89680-7
Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-10051-2Published: 22 November 2010
eBook ISBN: 978-3-540-89680-7Published: 22 August 2009
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 263
Additional Information: Jointly published with Praxis Publishing, UK
Topics: Atmospheric Sciences, Oceanography, Climatology, Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Climate Change