The “Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future” book provides a synthesis of the past decade of research into global changes that occurred in the earth system in the past. To narrow our focus, we concentrate on significant changes in the Earth’s past environment, thereby gaining valuable insights into present and future global changes and their impacts on human populations.
The “Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future” book stands as a ten year milestone in the operation of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) Project of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP). It aims to quantitatively understand Earth’s recent geological history and define the range of natural environmental variations to assess human impacts on the Earth System. A set of color overhead transparencies based on the figures in the book is available free on the PAGES website (www.pages-igbp.org) for use in teaching and lecturing.
Contents
- The Societal Relevance of Paleoenvironmental Research
- The Late Quaternary History of Atmospheric Trace Gases and Aerosols: Interactions Between Climate and Biogeochemical Cycles
- The History of Climate Dynamics in the Late Quaternary
- The Late Quaternary History of Biogeochemical Cycling of Carbon
- Terrestrial Biosphere Dynamics in the Climate System: Past and Future
- The Climate of the Last Millennium
- The Role of Human Activities in Past Environmental Change
- Challenges of a Changing Earth: Past Perspectives, Future Concerns
