To understand the basis of global climate change, it is necessary to separate man-made from natural causes such as solar and volcanic activity. By regarding volcanic eruptions as large-scale geophysics experiments that allow abundant observations of the stratospheric aerosol content, a major influence on climate, and the testing of numerical models, it is possible to determine what kinds of climate anomalies and ozone layer changes they have produced and take a major step in understanding climate change.

This book discusses such effects in detail and in a form accessible to the broad range of professionals and students concerned with global change.

Contents

• Introduction
  • 1. Sulfate Aerosols
  • 2. Modeling Aerosol Properties
  • 3. Climate Impact of Aerosols: Tropospheric Aerosols / Stratospheric Aerosols
  • 4. Conclusions
  • References
• Chapter 1. Global Climate Diagnostic Data And Numerical Modeling Results
  • 1.1 Conventional Observations
  • 1.2 Cause and Effect Studies
  • 1.3 Satellite Observations
  • 1.4 Recognition of Anthropogenic Signals
  • 1.5 Numerical Climate Modeling Results
  • References
• Chapter 2. Some Past Eruptions: Volcanic Aerosols and Climatological Evidence
  • 2.1 Development of Scientific Views
  • 2.2 Prominent Eruptions During Past 200 Years
  • 2.3 Volcanic Aerosols
  • References
• Chapter 3. Recent Major Explosive Volcanic Eruptions
  • 3.1 The Mount St. Helens Volcano Eruption
  • 3.2 The El Chichón Volcano Eruption
  • 3.3 The Mount Pinatubo Volcano Eruption
  • References
• Chapter 4. Properties of Aerosols - Radiative Effects
  • 4.1 In situ Measurements
  • 4.2 Remote Sounding of Stratospheric Aerosol Properties
  • References
• Chapter 5. Assessment of the Impact of Volcanic Eruptions on Climate
  • 5.1 Observational Data and Radiation Budget
  • 5.2 Numerical Modeling of the Climatic Impact of Stratospheric Aerosols
  • 5.3 Effects of Volcanic Eruptions on Atmospheric Ozone.
  • 5.4 Conclusion
  • References

  ISBN: 0-937194-37-9, 1997, Hardcover, 394 pages, $94.00