In this Book
- The White Planet: The Evolution and Future of Our Frozen World
- Book
- 2013
- Published by: Princeton University Press
A gripping journey through the icy regions of our changing planet
From the Arctic Ocean and ice sheets of Greenland, to the glaciers of the Andes and Himalayas, to the great frozen desert of Antarctica, The White Planet takes readers on a spellbinding scientific journey through the shrinking world of ice and snow to tell the story of the expeditions and discoveries that have transformed our understanding of global climate. Written by three internationally renowned scientists at the center of many breakthroughs in ice core and climate science, this book provides an unparalleled firsthand account of how the "white planet" affects global climate—and how, in turn, global warming is changing the frozen world.
Jean Jouzel, Claude Lorius, and Dominique Raynaud chronicle the daunting scientific, technical, and human hurdles that they and other scientists have had to overcome in order to unravel the mysteries of past and present climate change, as revealed by the cryosphere--the dynamic frozen regions of our planet. Scientifically impeccable, up-to-date, and accessible, The White Planet brings cutting-edge climate research to general readers through a vivid narrative. This is an essential book for anyone who wants to understand the inextricable link between climate and our planet's icy regions.
Table of Contents
- Part One: The World of Ice: Past and Present
- 1. The Ice on Our Planet
- pp. 3-17
- 3. Ice through the Ages
- pp. 37-50
- Part Two: Polar Ice: Amazing Archives
- 5. Glacial Archives
- pp. 68-81
- 6. The Campaigns
- pp. 82-109
- 7. Vostok: The Cornucopia
- pp. 110-121
- 9. Rapid Climatic Variations
- pp. 130-148
- Part Three: the White Planet Tomorrow
- 11. The Climate and Greenhouse Gases
- pp. 159-172
- 12. Have Humans Already Changed the Climate?
- pp. 173-200
- 13. What Will the Climate Be in the Future?
- pp. 201-217
- 14. A Warming with Multiple Consequences
- pp. 218-226
- 15. What We Must Do
- pp. 227-244
- Part Four: the Poles and the Planet
- 16. The Crucial Place of Research
- pp. 247-260
- 17. Humans and the Rise of Pollution
- pp. 261-271
- Conclusion: The Anthropocene Era
- pp. 272-276
- Selected Bibliography
- pp. 289-290