Climate Sensitivity to Radiative Perturbations

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642610536
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (426 download)

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Book Synopsis Climate Sensitivity to Radiative Perturbations by : Herve LeTreut

Download or read book Climate Sensitivity to Radiative Perturbations written by Herve LeTreut and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current climate models diverge in their assessment of global warming that will result from the anthropogenic increase in trace gases. This is because they differ in their representation of the hydrological cycle (water vapour, clouds, snow and sea ice, soil moisture) and because a direct validation in terms of sensitivity is not possible. Indirect methods and approaches are therefore necessary to verify the models efficiently. The book provides an overview on different validation approaches. The use of satellite data is particularly stressed.

Climate Change Science

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Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309183359
Total Pages : 41 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Climate Change Science by : National Research Council

Download or read book Climate Change Science written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-06-28 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The warming of the Earth has been the subject of intense debate and concern for many scientists, policy-makers, and citizens for at least the past decade. Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, a new report by a committee of the National Research Council, characterizes the global warming trend over the last 100 years, and examines what may be in store for the 21st century and the extent to which warming may be attributable to human activity.

Climate Sensitivity to Radiative Perturbations

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Author :
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 9783540604341
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Climate Sensitivity to Radiative Perturbations by : Herve LeTreut

Download or read book Climate Sensitivity to Radiative Perturbations written by Herve LeTreut and published by Springer. This book was released on 1995-11-17 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Current climate models diverge in their assessment of global warming that will result from the anthropogenic increase in trace gases. This is because they differ in their representation of the hydrological cycle (water vapour, clouds, snow and sea ice, soil moisture) and because a direct validation in terms of sensitivity is not possible. Indirect methods and approaches are therefore necessary to verify the models efficiently. The book provides an overview on different validation approaches. The use of satellite data is particularly stressed.

Radiative Forcing of Climate Change

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309133505
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Radiative Forcing of Climate Change by : National Research Council

Download or read book Radiative Forcing of Climate Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2005-03-25 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changes in climate are driven by natural and human-induced perturbations of the Earth's energy balance. These climate drivers or "forcings" include variations in greenhouse gases, aerosols, land use, and the amount of energy Earth receives from the Sun. Although climate throughout Earth's history has varied from "snowball" conditions with global ice cover to "hothouse" conditions when glaciers all but disappeared, the climate over the past 10,000 years has been remarkably stable and favorable to human civilization. Increasing evidence points to a large human impact on global climate over the past century. The report reviews current knowledge of climate forcings and recommends critical research needed to improve understanding. Whereas emphasis to date has been on how these climate forcings affect global mean temperature, the report finds that regional variation and climate impacts other than temperature deserve increased attention.

Radiative Forcing of Climate Change

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309095069
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Radiative Forcing of Climate Change by : National Research Council

Download or read book Radiative Forcing of Climate Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2005-04-25 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changes in climate are driven by natural and human-induced perturbations of the Earth's energy balance. These climate drivers or "forcings" include variations in greenhouse gases, aerosols, land use, and the amount of energy Earth receives from the Sun. Although climate throughout Earth's history has varied from "snowball" conditions with global ice cover to "hothouse" conditions when glaciers all but disappeared, the climate over the past 10,000 years has been remarkably stable and favorable to human civilization. Increasing evidence points to a large human impact on global climate over the past century. The report reviews current knowledge of climate forcings and recommends critical research needed to improve understanding. Whereas emphasis to date has been on how these climate forcings affect global mean temperature, the report finds that regional variation and climate impacts other than temperature deserve increased attention.

Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309043867
Total Pages : 945 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming by : National Academy of Engineering

Download or read book Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming written by National Academy of Engineering and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 945 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global warming continues to gain importance on the international agenda and calls for action are heightening. Yet, there is still controversy over what must be done and what is needed to proceed. Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming describes the information necessary to make decisions about global warming resulting from atmospheric releases of radiatively active trace gases. The conclusions and recommendations include some unexpected results. The distinguished authoring committee provides specific advice for U.S. policy and addresses the need for an international response to potential greenhouse warming. It offers a realistic view of gaps in the scientific understanding of greenhouse warming and how much effort and expense might be required to produce definitive answers. The book presents methods for assessing options to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, offset emissions, and assist humans and unmanaged systems of plants and animals to adjust to the consequences of global warming.

A Plan for a Research Program on Aerosol Radiative Forcing and Climate Change

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309588871
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (95 download)

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Book Synopsis A Plan for a Research Program on Aerosol Radiative Forcing and Climate Change by : Panel on Aerosol Radiative Forcing and Climate Change

Download or read book A Plan for a Research Program on Aerosol Radiative Forcing and Climate Change written by Panel on Aerosol Radiative Forcing and Climate Change and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-05-01 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recommends the initiation of an "integrated" research program to study the role of aerosols in the predicted global climate change. Current understanding suggest that, even now, aerosols, primarily from anthropogenic sources, may be reducing the rate of warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to specific research recommendations, this book forcefully argues for two kinds of research program integration: integration of the individual laboratory, field, and theoretical research activities and an integrated management structure that involves all of the concerned federal agencies.

Changing the Climate Sensitivity of an Atmospheric General Circulation Model Through Cloud Radiative Adjustment

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 18 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (819 download)

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Book Synopsis Changing the Climate Sensitivity of an Atmospheric General Circulation Model Through Cloud Radiative Adjustment by : Andrei P. Sokolov

Download or read book Changing the Climate Sensitivity of an Atmospheric General Circulation Model Through Cloud Radiative Adjustment written by Andrei P. Sokolov and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 18 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conducting probabilistic climate projections with a particular climate model requires the ability to vary the model's characteristics, such as its climate sensitivity. In this study, the authors implement and validate a method to change the climate sensitivity of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmosphere Model, version 3 (CAM3), through cloud radiative adjustment. Results show that the cloud radiative adjustment method does not lead to physically unrealistic changes in the model's response to an external forcing, such as doubling CO2 concentrations or increasing sulfate aerosol concentrations. Furthermore, this method has some advantages compared to the traditional perturbed physics approach. In particular, the cloud radiative adjustment method can produce any value of climate sensitivity within the wide range of uncertainty based on the observed twentieth century climate change. As a consequence, this method allows Monte Carlo-type probabilistic climate forecasts to be conducted where values of uncertain parameters not only cover the whole uncertainty range, but cover it homogeneously. Unlike the perturbed physics approach that can produce several versions of a model with the same climate sensitivity but with very different regional patterns of change, the cloud radiative adjustment method can only produce one version of the model with a specific climate sensitivity. As such, a limitation of this method is that it cannot cover the full uncertainty in regional patterns of climate change.

Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation, and Climate Sensitivity

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319772732
Total Pages : 396 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (197 download)

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Book Synopsis Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation, and Climate Sensitivity by : Robert Pincus

Download or read book Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation, and Climate Sensitivity written by Robert Pincus and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-05-29 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents a series of overview articles arising from a workshop exploring the links among shallow clouds, water vapor, circulation, and climate sensitivity. It provides a state-of-the art synthesis of understanding about the coupling of clouds and water vapor to the large-scale circulation. The emphasis is on two phenomena, namely the self-aggregation of deep convection and interactions between low clouds and the large-scale environment, with direct links to the sensitivity of climate to radiative perturbations. Each subject is approached using simulations, observations, and synthesizing theory; particular attention is paid to opportunities offered by new remote-sensing technologies, some still prospective. The collection provides a thorough grounding in topics representing one of the World Climate Research Program’s Grand Challenges. Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 38, Issue 6, 2017 The aritcles “Observing Convective Aggregation”, “An Observational View of Relationships Between Moisture Aggregation, Cloud, and Radiative Heating Profiles”, “Implications of Warm Rain in Shallow Cumulus and Congestus Clouds for Large-Scale Circulations”, “A Survey of Precipitation-Induced Atmospheric Cold Pools over Oceans and Their Interactions with the Larger-Scale Environment”, “Low-Cloud Feedbacks from Cloud-Controlling Factors: A Review”, “Mechanisms and Model Diversity of Trade-Wind Shallow Cumulus Cloud Feedbacks: A Review”, “Structure and Dynamical Influence of Water Vapor in the Lower Tropical Troposphere”, “Emerging Technologies and Synergies for Airborne and Space-Based Measurements of Water Vapor Profiles”, “Observational Constraints on Cloud Feedbacks: The Role of Active Satellite Sensors”, and “EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation” are available as open access articles under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

Investigating Climate Feedbacks Across Forcing Magnitudes and Time Scales Using the Radiative Kernel Technique

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 101 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (811 download)

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Book Synopsis Investigating Climate Feedbacks Across Forcing Magnitudes and Time Scales Using the Radiative Kernel Technique by : Alexandra Jonko

Download or read book Investigating Climate Feedbacks Across Forcing Magnitudes and Time Scales Using the Radiative Kernel Technique written by Alexandra Jonko and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Radiative feedbacks associated with changes in water vapor, temperature, surface albedo and clouds remain a major source of uncertainty in our understanding of climate's response to anthropogenic forcing. In this dissertation climate model data is used to investigate variations in feedbacks that result from changing CO2 forcing and the time scales on which feedbacks operate, focusing on the applicability of one method in particular, the radiative kernel technique, to these problems. This computationally efficient technique uses a uniform, incremental change in feedback variables to infer top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative flux changes. The first chapters explore the suitability of the linear radiative kernel technique for large forcing scenarios. We show that kernels based on the present-day climate misestimate TOA flux changes for large perturbations, translating into biased feedback estimates. We address this issue by calculating additional kernels based on a large forcing climate state with eight times present day CO2 concentrations. Differences between these and the present-day kernels result from added absorption of radiation by CO2 and water vapor, and increased longwave emission due to higher temperatures. Combining present-day and 8xCO2 kernels leads to significant improvement in the approximation of TOA flux changes and accuracy of feedback estimates. While climate sensitivity remains constant with increasing CO2 forcing when the inaccurate present-day kernels are used, sensitivity increases significantly when new kernels are used. Comparison of feedbacks in climate models with observations is one way towards understanding the disagreement among models. However, climate change feedbacks operate on time scales that are too long to be evaluated from the observational record. Rather, short-term proxies for greenhouse-gas-driven warming are often used to compute feedbacks from observations. The third chapter of this dissertation examines links between the seasonal cycle and global warming using pattern correlations of spatial distribution of feedback variables and radiative flux changes. We find strong correlations between time scales for changes in surface temperature and climate variables, but not for TOA flux anomalies, reaffirming conclusions drawn in previous work. Finally, we investigate the fitness of the radiative kernel technique for evaluation of short-term feedbacks in a comparison with the more accurate, but more computationally expensive, partial radiative perturbations.

Projecting the Climatic Effects of Increasing Carbon Dioxide

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.E/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Projecting the Climatic Effects of Increasing Carbon Dioxide by : Michael C. MacCracken

Download or read book Projecting the Climatic Effects of Increasing Carbon Dioxide written by Michael C. MacCracken and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences

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Publisher : Elsevier
ISBN 13 : 0123822262
Total Pages : 2874 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (238 download)

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Book Synopsis Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences by : Gerald R. North

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences written by Gerald R. North and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-09-14 with total page 2874 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences, Second Edition, Six Volume Set is an authoritative resource covering all aspects of atmospheric sciences, including both theory and applications. With more than 320 articles and 1,600 figures and photographs, this revised version of the award-winning first edition offers comprehensive coverage of this important field. The six volumes in this set contain broad-ranging articles on topics such as atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, boundary layers, clouds, general circulation, global change, mesoscale meteorology, ozone, radar, satellite remote sensing, and weather prediction. The Encyclopedia is an ideal resource for academia, government, and industry in the fields of atmospheric, ocean, and environmental sciences. It is written at a level that allows undergraduate students to understand the material, while providing active researchers with the latest information in the field. Covers all aspects of atmospheric sciences—including both theory and applications Presents more than 320 articles and more than 1,600 figures and photographs Broad-ranging articles include topics such as atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, boundary layers, clouds, general circulation, global change, mesoscale meteorology, ozone, radar, satellite remote sensing, and weather prediction An ideal resource for academia, government, and industry in the fields of atmospheric, ocean, and environmental sciences

Assessment of Approaches to Updating the Social Cost of Carbon

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309391458
Total Pages : 73 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (93 download)

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Book Synopsis Assessment of Approaches to Updating the Social Cost of Carbon by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Download or read book Assessment of Approaches to Updating the Social Cost of Carbon written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-03-26 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The social cost of carbon (SCC) for a given year is an estimate, in dollars, of the present discounted value of the damage caused by a 1-metric ton increase in CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in that year; or equivalently, the benefits of reducing CO2 emissions by the same amount in that given year. The SCC is intended to provide a comprehensive measure of the monetized value of the net damages from global climate change from an additional unit of CO2, including, but not limited to, changes in net agricultural productivity, energy use, human health effects, and property damages from increased flood risk. Federal agencies use the SCC to value the CO2 emissions impacts of various policies including emission and fuel economy standards for vehicles, regulations of industrial air pollutants from industrial manufacturing, emission standards for power plants and solid waste incineration, and appliance energy efficiency standards. There are significant challenges to estimating a dollar value that reflects all the physical, human, ecological, and economic impacts of climate change. Recognizing that the models and scientific data underlying the SCC estimates evolve and improve over time, the federal government made a commitment to provide regular updates to the estimates. To assist with future revisions of the SCC, the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon (IWG) requested the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine complete a study that assessed the merits and challenges of a limited near-term update to the SCC and of a comprehensive update of the SCC to ensure that the estimates reflect the best available science. This interim report focuses on near-term updates to the SCC estimates.

Global Environmental Change

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309174325
Total Pages : 621 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Global Environmental Change by : National Research Council

Download or read book Global Environmental Change written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-09-14 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can we understand and rise to the environmental challenges of global change? One clear answer is to understand the science of global change, not solely in terms of the processes that control changes in climate and the composition of the atmosphere, but in how ecosystems and human society interact with these changes. In the last two decades of the twentieth century, a number of such research effortsâ€"supported by computer and satellite technologyâ€"have been launched. Yet many opportunities for integration remain unexploited, and many fundamental questions remain about the earth's capacity to support a growing human population. This volume encourages a renewed commitment to understanding global change and sets a direction for research in the decade ahead. Through case studies the book explores what can be learned from the lessons of the past 20 years and what are the outstanding scientific questions. Highlights include: Research imperatives and strategies for investigators in the areas of atmospheric chemistry, climate, ecosystem studies, and human dimensions of global change. The context of climate change, including lessons to be gleaned from paleoclimatology. Human responses toâ€"and forcing ofâ€"projected global change. This book offers a comprehensive overview of global change research to date and provides a framework for answering urgent questions.

Implementation of a Cloud Radiative Adjustment Method to Change the Climate Sensitivity of CAM3

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 22 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (768 download)

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Book Synopsis Implementation of a Cloud Radiative Adjustment Method to Change the Climate Sensitivity of CAM3 by : Andrei P. Sokolov

Download or read book Implementation of a Cloud Radiative Adjustment Method to Change the Climate Sensitivity of CAM3 written by Andrei P. Sokolov and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conducting probabilistic climate projections with a particular climate model requires the ability to vary the model's characteristics, such as its climate sensitivity. In this study, we implement and validate a method to change the climate sensitivity of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) through a cloud radiative adjustment. Results show that the cloud radiative adjustment method does not lead to physically unrealistic changes in the model's response to an external forcing, such as doubling CO2 concentrations or increasing sulfate aerosol concentrations. Furthermore, this method has some advantages compared to the traditional perturbed physics approach. In particular, the cloud radiative adjustment method can produce any value of climate sensitivity within the wide range of uncertainty based on the observed 20th century climate change. As a consequence, this method allows Monte Carlo type probabilistic climate forecasts to be conducted where values of uncertain parameters not only cover the whole uncertainty range, but cover it homogeneously. Unlike the perturbed physics approach which can produce several versions of a model with the same climate sensitivity but with very different regional patterns of change, the cloud radiative adjustment method can only produce one version of the model with a specific climate sensitivity. As such, a limitation of this method is that it cannot cover the full uncertainty in regional patterns of climate change.

Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642418015
Total Pages : 468 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (424 download)

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Book Synopsis Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model by : Tianjun Zhou

Download or read book Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model written by Tianjun Zhou and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-19 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coupled climate system models are of central importance for climate studies. A new model known as FGOALS ( the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model), has been developed by the Sate Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LASG/IAP, CAS), a first-tier national geophysical laboratory. It serves as a powerful tool, both for deepening our understanding of fundamental mechanisms of the climate system and for making decadal prediction and scenario projections of future climate change. "Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model: A Modeling Tool for the Climate Change Research Community” is the first book to offer systematic evaluations of this model’s performance. It is comprehensive in scope, covering both developmental and application-oriented aspects of this climate system model. It also provides an outlook of future development of FGOALS and offers an overview of how to employ the model. It represents a valuable reference work for researchers and professionals working within the related areas of climate variability and change. Prof. Tianjun Zhou, Yongqiang Yu, Yimin Liu and Bin Wang work at LASG, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space

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Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309492432
Total Pages : 29 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Download or read book Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live on a dynamic Earth shaped by both natural processes and the impacts of humans on their environment. It is in our collective interest to observe and understand our planet, and to predict future behavior to the extent possible, in order to effectively manage resources, successfully respond to threats from natural and human-induced environmental change, and capitalize on the opportunities â€" social, economic, security, and more â€" that such knowledge can bring. By continuously monitoring and exploring Earth, developing a deep understanding of its evolving behavior, and characterizing the processes that shape and reshape the environment in which we live, we not only advance knowledge and basic discovery about our planet, but we further develop the foundation upon which benefits to society are built. Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space (National Academies Press, 2018) provides detailed guidance on how relevant federal agencies can ensure that the United States receives the maximum benefit from its investments in Earth observations from space, while operating within realistic cost constraints. This short booklet, designed to be accessible to the general public, provides a summary of the key ideas and recommendations from the full decadal survey report.