The Cryosphere And Global Environmental Change

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ISBN: 9781405129763 | 140512976X
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 1/23/2007

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This is the first textbook to consider all aspects of the cryosphere system in the context of global environmental change driven by human activity and climate. Considers all six aspects of the cryosphere - ice sheets, glacier ice, permafrost, river and lake ice, sea ice and snow - in the context of global environmental change driven by human activity and climate. Describes a new concept of cryosphere transience and landscape transition which links climate, hydrology, ecology and geomorphology. Looks at the evidence, process, and patterns of cryosphere change, on local and global scales. Provides a wealth of data to inform the current global environmental change debate.

List of Permissions	p. ix
Preface	p. xv
The evidence for cryospheric change	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The geomorphic and hydrologic effects of cryospheric change	p. 5
Subarctic and alpine hydrology	p. 7
Glacier loss and mountain permafrost	p. 9
Permafrost	p. 10
The carbon balance of the cryosphere	p. 12
River and lake ice break-up and freeze-up	p. 14
Ocean circulation	p. 16
The mass balance of the polar ice sheets	p. 16
Sea level	p. 17
Importance of sea ice	p. 21
Ecological impacts	p. 22
Socioeconomic effects	p. 24
Conclusions	p. 28
Traditional in situ approaches to the monitoring of cryospheric change	p. 30
Introduction	p. 30
In situ measurements	p. 32
Land surface air temperature	p. 32
Terrestrial snow and snow on sea ice	p. 34
Sea ice	p. 38
Ice sheets and alpine glaciers	p. 42
Permafrost and seasonally frozen ground	p. 49
River runoff	p. 51
River and lake ice break-up and freeze-up	p. 52
Conclusions	p. 54
Processes of cryospheric change	p. 55
Introduction	p. 55
Snow and ice as energy regulators	p. 55
The energetics of the snow surface	p. 56
The energetics of the snowpack	p. 58
The energetics of glaciers	p. 59
The energetics of sea ice and various terrain types	p. 62
Permafrost	p. 63
Snow and ice reservoir functions	p. 66
Mass budget for snow	p. 66
Mass balance for glacier ice	p. 69
The mass balance of an ice sheet	p. 69
Mass balance of sea ice	p. 69
Snowfall	p. 71
Interception by vegetation	p. 71
Snow accumulation	p. 72
Snow cover structure	p. 76
Snow avalanches	p. 80
Snowmelt, runoff, and streamflow generation	p. 81
Snow chemistry	p. 84
Snow ecology	p. 85
Glacier melt	p. 86
Formation of an ice cover	p. 88
River and lake ice	p. 89
Sediment budgets	p. 91
Patterns of the contemporary cryosphere at local to global scales	p. 93
Introduction	p. 93
Remote sensing observations	p. 93
Land and sea surface temperature	p. 97
Terrestrial snow and snow on sea ice	p. 98
Sea ice	p. 103
Ice sheets and glaciers: estimation of volume	p. 106
Ice sheets and glaciers: mass balance components	p. 110
Permafrost	p. 113
River runoff	p. 116
River and lake ice break-up and freeze-up	p. 116
Numerical models	p. 118
Conclusions: validation, coordinated projects, and climate data records	p. 118
The evidence for past cryospheric changes	p. 122
Introduction	p. 122
The uniqueness of the Quaternary Period	p. 123
Initiation of glacial ages	p. 123
Reconstructing the extent of glacial environments	p. 127
Extreme events	p. 132
Ice sheet modeling	p. 136
The Antarctic Ice Sheet	p. 137
Greenland	p. 139
North America: Innuitian, Laurentide, and Cordilleran ice sheets	p. 141
British Isles, Scandinavian, and Barents ice sheets	p. 142
The Patagonian and New Zealand ice caps	p. 144
Nonglacial Quaternary environments	p. 146
Late Quaternary permafrost in North America and Europe	p. 147
Treeline variations	p. 149
Climatic snowline	p. 150
Glacier fluctuations	p. 153
Paraglaciation	p. 156
The transience of the cryosphere and transitional landscapes	p. 158
Introduction	p. 158
The landscape as palimpsest	p. 158
Glacial landscapes: macro-scale	p. 159
Cirque landscapes	p. 160
Fjord and strandflat landscapes	p. 162
Periglacial landscapes: macro-scale	p. 164
Paraglacial landscapes: macro-scale	p. 166
Glacial landscapes: medium-scale	p. 168
The transition from glacial to fluvial dominance	p. 168
Proglacial landscapes: medium-scale	p. 170
Glacifluvial landforms	p. 170
The Channeled Scablands	p. 173
Subglacial channels	p. 174
Subglacial, ice-marginal, and supraglacial sediment-landform associations	p. 176
Periglacial landscapes: medium-scale	p. 178
The transition from periglacial to fluvial dominance	p. 181
Paraglacial landscapes: medium-scale	p. 182
Glacial landscapes: local-scale	p. 184
Primary glacigenic deposits	p. 184
Small-scale erosional forms	p. 185
Proglacial landscapes: local-scale	p. 185
Periglacial landscapes: local-scale	p. 188
Paraglacial landscapes: local-scale	p. 191
Landscape resistance, collapse, and recovery	p. 192
Transitional landscapes at Quaternary, Holocene, and Anthropocene timescales	p. 193
Cryospheric change and vulnerability at Quaternary, Holocene, and Anthropocene time scales	p. 196
Introduction	p. 196
Panarchy	p. 196
Panarchy, sustainability, and transformability	p. 198
Collapse and the vulnerability of socioeconomic systems	p. 198
Changing ice cover and biomes since the Last Glacial Maximum	p. 199
The Last Glacial Maximum	p. 200
The Holocene Optimum	p. 200
The first explorers in North America	p. 200
Implications of cryospheric change/collapse	p. 202
Snow quantity	p. 204
Snow quality	p. 204
River and lake ice	p. 204
Permafrost	p. 205
Glaciers	p. 205
River basins	p. 207
Sea ice	p. 209
Ice sheets	p. 209
Sea level change	p. 209
Carbon sequestration	p. 209
Vegetation	p. 209
Polar bears	p. 210
Human health	p. 210
Persistent organic pollutants	p. 211
Sociocultural conditions and health status	p. 212
Livelihoods and socioeconomic conditions	p. 214
Governance	p. 215
Concluding thoughts	p. 216
References	p. 225
Index	p. 255
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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The Cryosphere And Global Environmental Change

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