A Short Introduction to Climate Change

250 Pages·2012·2.96 MB·English

by  Professor Tony Eggleton

A Short IntroductIon

to clImAte chAnge
A Short Introduction to Climate Change provides a clear, balanced and
well-documented account of one of the most important issues of our time.
It covers developments in climate science over the past 250 years, compares
climates over geologic time and shows that recent climate change is more
than the result of natural variability. It explains the difference between
weather and climate by examining changes in temperature, rainfall, Arctic
ice and ocean currents. It also considers the consequences of our use of
fossil fuels and discusses some of the ways to reduce further global warming.
In this book, Tony Eggleton avoids the use of scientific jargon to provide a
reader-friendly explanation of the science of climate change.
Concise but comprehensive, and richly illustrated with a wealth of
full-colour figures and photographs, A Short Introduction to Climate Change is
essential reading for anyone who has an interest in climate science and in the
future of our planet.
Tony Eggleton is an Emeritus Professor of the Australian National
University. He graduated with first class Honours in Science from the
University of Adelaide, then completed the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
at the University of Wisconsin, USA. For his extensive research into
mineralogy he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science by the
University of Adelaide in 1999.

A S h o r t I n t r o d u c tIo n t o

Climate
C h a n g e
Tony EgglET on
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© Tony Eggleton 2013
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First published 2013
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contentS

Preface page vii
1 The spirit of enquiry 1
2 Global warming 11
3 Weather is not climate 25
4 The thermostat 51
5 Droughts and flooding rains 71
6 Snow and ice 91
7 The ocean 105
8 From ice-house to greenhouse 123
9 The past 2000 years 141
10 Carbon dioxide and methane 153
11 Denial 167
12 Bet your grandchildren’s lives on it, too? 185
Notes 213
Index 233

V

PrefAce
I had a most satisfying career, able to do what I really wanted, paid to
teach and do scientific research and free to explore where my curiosity
led me. That is the working life of many a scientist, and I was certainly
one of the lucky ones. Now, I had never taken much notice of climate
or the weather, at least no more than anyone whose day out is spoilt by
rain. True, I did spend six years in Wisconsin, in the United States, where
much of the evidence for the Great Ice Ages lies across the landscape,
and in another way the last 30 years of my research have indeed been
about weather. Not the coming and going of storms and droughts, but
the effect the weather has upon rocks. You see, I am a geologist, and I was
led by curiosity, coincidence and colleagues into the study of the way in
which rocks become soil – mineral weathering. I looked deep into the
heart of clays, photographing their relationship to the harder minerals out
of which they grew with what was then the most amazing microscope
in the world. On a wall in my office are images of minerals magnified
to the point at which their constituent atoms are visible. When I retired,
there were new opportunities to explore, from playing with grandchil-
dren to travelling the grand landscape of Australia. And so it turned out.
But after tidying up the loose ends of 40 years’ scientific research, in the
longest drought I have experienced and amidst a political storm over the
evidence for global warming and a proposed Emissions Trading Scheme, I
received a challenging message by email. In this book you will read about
where that led.
Two years of reading and writing have taken me away from my wife,
Glen, for countless hours – hours when we might have been doing more
of those other things. For letting me work without complaint, for sup-
porting me and for reading and gently improving what I wrote, my heart-
felt thanks.
Our daughters, Rachel and Cate, added their wisdom and encourage-
ment as each chapter appeared, and again as they were shuffled into their
final sequence. Paul Coromandel also read the draft manuscript; his com-
ments were instrumental in improving the text. The figures would still be
pencil sketches if Geoff England had not shown me the finer points of
computer draughting. My sister, Hilary, and cousins, John and Barbara and
her husband Anton, also suggested improvements in the name of clarity.
My family was of paramount importance, not just for suggesting ideas
and changes, but also for pushing me away from my customary lecturing
VII
style into what I hope is an engaging writing style. I am extraordinarily
grateful to them all.
Colleagues at the Australian National University also advised me and
informed the development of the book. First was Andrew Glikson, whose
passion for the subject was infectious and whose fount of knowledge
and resources made starting the job so much easier. Brad Opdyke, John
Fitz-Gerald, Patrick De Deckker and Paul Tregoning listened to my ques-
tions and always had the answers.
There are a number of scientists whom I have never met but who
generously and promptly replied to my emailed pleas for help. To Paul
Halloran, Caroline Ummenhofer, Donna Roberts, Judith Lean, David
Post, Claudine Chen, Sophie Dove and Ray Langenfelds, thank you for
clarifying many issues.
Then, the first draft was completed and it needed peer review. Professor
Will Steffen from my university’s Climate Change Institute most gener-
ously agreed to read and critique what I had written. My thanks go to
him for finding the time to read and correct that draft, for his positive
response and for encouraging me to find a publisher. That took rather
some time, and when I was discouraged it was Dr Barry Fordham who
not only gave me the kick that sent me to Cambridge University Press,
but then also read every word of the second draft and gave me succinct
and sage advice on almost every paragraph. For the generous gifts of
your time and wisdom, Barry, I am forever indebted. The text was greatly
improved by the careful and detailed comments, corrections and advice
given to me by Professor Martin Williams, to whom I am most grateful.
My utmost thanks go to Professor Tom Wigley. At short notice he agreed
to review the manuscript, and his vast experience and knowledge of the
science of climate change were of immense help to me in the final stages
of editing.
For photographs, my thanks to Hilary, John and Andrew Brooke,
to Roger Hambly, Paul Halloran, Donna Roberts, Daniel Steiner, Ove
Hoegh-Guldberg, James Morrow and Giselle Coromandel. I am grateful
for the support of the Australian National University, through Professor
Andrew Roberts, Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences, for
a subsidy to help print this work in colour.
Finally, to my oldest friend, Sandy Facy, thanks. You got me started on
the book with a question – and had to wait years for the answer.
VIII PrEfacE