num_pages: 320
description: Earth's climate has undergone dramatic changes over the geologic timescale. At one extreme Earth has been glaciated from the poles to the equator for periods that may have lasted millions of years. At another temperatures were once so warm that the Canadian Arctic was heavily forested and large dinosaurs lived on Antarctica. Paleoclimatology is the study of such changes and their causes. Studying Earth's long-term climate history gives scientists vital clues about anthropogenic global warming and how climate is affected by human endeavor.In this book Michael Bender an internationally recognized authority on paleoclimate provides a concise comprehensive and sophisticated introduction to the subject. After briefly describing the major periods in Earth history to provide geologic context he discusses controls on climate and how the record of past climate is determined. The heart of the book then proceeds chronologically introducing the history of climate changes over millions of years--its patterns and major transitions and why average global temperature has varied so much. The book ends with a discussion of the Holocene (the past 10000 years) and by putting manmade climate change in the context of paleoclimate.The most up-to-date overview on the subject Paleoclimate provides an ideal introduction to undergraduates nonspecialist scientists and general readers with a scientific background.
language: English
title: Paleoclimate
publisher: Princeton University Press