Description
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.
Chapter
Antarctica: A Long Uncertain Mass Balance
Chapter 3 Ice through the Ages
Glaciations of the Quaternary and Astronomic Theory
PART TWO POLAR ICE: AMAZING ARCHIVES
Chapter 4 Reconstructing the Climates of the Past
Dating Oceanic and Continental Archives
Chapter 5 Glacial Archives
The Long Story of a Snowflake
The Ice and Its Isotopes: A Paleothermometer
Impurities with Multiple Sources
Air Bubbles in the Ice: A Very Beautiful Story
Camps Century and Byrd: The First Deep Ice Core Drillings
Fifty Years Ago: The French on the Polar Ice
The First Drilling at Dôme C: Success of the French Team
Rapid Climate Variations: Initial Inklings
Vostok: A Collaboration between French and Soviet Teams
Europe and the United States: Two Drilling Operations in the Center of Greenland
Europe Turns to Antarctica
Vostok: More than 3,600 Meters of Ice
Other Core Drilling in Antarctica
The Glaciers of the Andes and the Himalaya
The European EPICA Drilling: A Double Success beyond All Hopes
Chapter 7 Vostok: The Cornucopia
A Complete Glacial-Interglacial Cycle
Climate and Greenhouse Effect Go Hand in Hand
A Huge Lake under the Ice
Chapter 8 Dôme C: 800,000 Years and the Revolution of the Rhythm of Glaciations
Ice Older than That at Vostok
Inversion of the Magnetic Field
Chapter 9 Rapid Climatic Variations
Increasingly Clear Indications
A Connection with Ocean Circulation?
Rapid Events during a Warm Period?
Initially Underestimated Changes in Temperature
The Connection with the Ocean Henceforth Demonstrated
Consequences on a Planetary Scale
Chapter 10 The Last 10,000 Years: An Almost Stable Climate
Volcanism and Solar Activity: Natural Climatic Forcings
How Long Has Human Activity Been Changing the Composition of the Atmosphere?
PART THREE THE WHITE PLANET TOMORROW
Chapter 11 TheClimate and Greenhouse Gases
The Greenhouse Effect: A Truly Beneficial Natural Phenomenon
The Greenhouse Effect Due to Human Activity: A Slow Awareness
How Did We Get to This Point?
Chapter 12 Have Humans Already Changed the Climate?
The Establishment of the IPCC
The Climate in the Last Millennium
The Arguments of Skeptics
The White Planet on the Front Lines of Global Warming
Chapter 13 What Will the Climate Be in the Future?
A True Upheaval if We Aren’t Careful
What Will Become of Our Glaciers?
An Arctic Ocean without Ice?
Surprises under the Frozen Ground
A More Rapid and Higher Sea-Level Rise than Predicted
The Halt of the Gulf Stream
Chapter 14 A Warming with Multiple Consequences
A True Upheaval on a Global Scale
Polar Regions: Multiple and Diverse Impacts
The Political and Economic Stakes: Climate and Oil
Chapter 15 What We Must Do
Stabilizing the Greenhouse Effect: A True Challenge
The Kyoto Protocol: A First Step
Can the Challenge Be Met?
Copenhagen: Failure or Half-Success
The “Grenelle de l’environnement”
PART FOUR THE POLES AND THE PLANET
Chapter 16 The Crucial Place of Research
A Short History of the Polar Years
The International Polar Year 2007–2009
Glacial Ice Coring: Ambitious Objectives
The Microbiology of Ice and Subglacial Lakes: Life in an Extreme Environment
Concordia: A Station Full of Promise
Chapter 17 Humans and the Rise of Pollution
Other Heavy Metals, Including Copper
The Ozone Hole: An Emblematic Pollution
The Anthropocene and Greenhouse Gases
CONCLUSION: THE ANTHROPOCENE ERA
The White Planet
：The Evolution and Future of Our Frozen World
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