Earth systems : processes and issues

Author(s)

• Ernst, W. G. (Wallace Gary)

Bibliographic Information

Earth systems : processes and issues

edited by W.G. Ernst

Cambridge University Press, 2000

• : hbk
• : pbk

Note

Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Earth Systems: Processes and Issues is the ideal textbook for introductory courses in earth systems science and environmental science. Integrating the principles of the natural sciences, engineering, and economics as they pertain to the global environment, it explains the complex couplings and feedback mechanisms linking the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. An impressive group of internationally respected researchers and lecturers have brought together a vast wealth of teaching experience to produce this fully integrated environmental textbook. It has been designed for the wide range of courses at the first-year university level which touch upon environmental issues: in earth and atmospheric science, environmental science, biological science, oceanography, geography, civil engineering, and social science. Each chapter includes a reading list of the most important references, and problem sets will encourage students to explore the subject further. This text will favorably influence the future development of environmental studies and earth system science.

Table of Contents

• Part I. Introduction, the Earth as a System: 1. Why in the world study earth systems science?
• 2. Physical geography
• 3. Time scales: geologic, biologic, and political
• Part II. Natural Processes: The Geosphere: 4. The earth's place in the solar system
• 5. Earth materials, and the internal constitution of the planet
• 6. Drifting continents, sea-floor spreading, and plate tectonics
• 7. Fluvial landforms: the surface of the earth
• 8. Chemical weathering and soils: interface between the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere
• The Hydrosphere
• 9. The hydrological cycle
• 10. Atmosphere-ocean coupling and surface circulation of the ocean
• 11. Deep-sea and global ocean circulation
• 12. Chemical oceanography
• 13. Atmosphere composition, mixing, and ozone destruction
• 14. Atmosphere motions and the greenhouse
• 15. Can we forecast climate future without knowing climate past?
• Can we predict climate change accurately?
• 16. The Biosphere
• 17. Biodiversity: result of speciation and extinction
• 18. Evolution: adaptation and environmental change
• 19. Global biogeochemical cycles: carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen
• 20. Global change and the terrestrial carbon cycle: the Jasper Ridge CO2 experiment
• 21. Ecology: possible consequences of rapid global change
• Part III. Societal and Policy Implications: Resource Use and Environmental Technology: 22. Population and the environment
• 23. Mineral resources: assets and liabilities
• 24. Energy resources and the environment
• 25. Natural hazards: prediction and risk: society, the environment and public policy
• 26. Steps from environmental science to effective policy
• 27. Confronting the prospect of global climate change: carbon taxes and other domestic policy options
• 28. Land use: global effects of local changes
• 29. Agriculture and global change
• 30. Water allocation and protection: a case study of the American Southwest
• 31. Valuing nature
• 32. The life support system - towards earth sense
• Part IV. Summary: 33. Synthesis of earth systems and global change
• Glossary.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

• NCID: BA46541793
• ISBN:
  • 0521473233
  • 0521478952
• LCCN: 98037539
• Country Code: uk
• Title Language Code: eng
• Text Language Code: eng
• Place of Publication: Cambridge, U.K.
• Pages/Volumes: x, 566 p., [11] p. of plates
• Size: 29 cm
• Classification:
  • LCC : QE28
  • DC21 : 550
• Subject Headings:
  • LCSH : Earth sciences