“The Physics of Climate Change” by Lawrence Krauss

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

An interesting book to read to learn about the physics behind global warming. It combines a historical look at the science behind global warming with the physics and evidence for it. In closing, the book does not mince words and shows that the world is already changing, and we had better adapt to a changing world while working to reduce the effects of global warming.

Chapter One starts with a look at the Mekong River and the Delta it forms. Much of the Delta is nearly at sea level, and it is only the amount of water the Mekong River discharges that prevents seawater from inundating the Delta. But this may change when global warming occurs.

Chapter Two looks at the history of CO2 measurements. Starting with the measurements started at Mauna Loa Observatory in the 1950s and mixing on to ice core measurements, the current atmospheric concentration is shown to be at an unprecedented high, exceeding even levels recorded in Earth’s history.

Chapter Three look at how carbon and carbon dioxide is recycled by the Earth both geologically and by living organisms and shows how humans are affecting the balance by digging up and releasing carbon that has been locked away geologically for millions of years.

Chapter Four takes a look at what keeps the Earth warm. Using some mathematics, it is shown that, without an atmosphere, the Earth’s surface temperate would be below freezing. Adding an atmosphere, and doing some simplified calculations, it can be shown that the atmosphere helps retain heat, absorbing some energy that would be lost to space, and radiating it back to the surface.

Chapter Five looks at the work is scientists like John Tyndall (who determined which parts of the atmosphere helps to retain heat) and Svante August Arrhenius (who calculated the effects of increasing carbon dioxide would have on global temperatures) who helped to determine the effects humans would have on the Climate in the future.

Chapter Six looks at the topic of ‘radiative forcing’, which is the increase in the amount of thermal energy being retained by the atmosphere due to the increase in Carbon Dioxide. This increase is due to the increase in the range of wavelengths of infrared energy being absorbed, but also by the increase in height before the energy is released into space by the atmosphere, which means even more of the atmosphere is retaining heat.

Chapter Seven brings things to the present, by stating what climate scientists are already saying through climate simulations: that global temperatures are rising and at a rate that matches climate simulations. The simulation results can also be verified by comparing them to temperatures in the past inferred through ice cores and found to be in agreement.

Chapter Eight looks at current conditions and shows that even if we were to stop all emissions now, some effects of global warming will continue and parts of the world will still continue to warm for centuries. Also shown is how as we delay making reductions in emissions, the amount of emissions that need to be reduced each year to meet targets get bigger.

Chapter Nine looks at what might be in store for the world when major sources of ice like Greenland and the Antarctic start to melt. While current sea level rise may be in the centimetre range for now, data from ice cores and other sources show that when large amounts of carbon dioxide was present or absent in the atmosphere, the sea level can change by meters in just centuries based on data from the Mediterranean and Red seas.

Chapter Ten looks at whether it is possible to detect global warming from daily weather. As it turns out, it may be possible from a study. The study also shows that tropical countries are the first to feel the effects of rising temperatures, even though their carbon dioxide contributions are among the smallest.

Chapter Eleven looks at uncertainties in global warming over possible tipping points that may affect glaciers, weather patterns, corals and forests.

Chapter Twelve returns to the Mekong Delta featured in Chapter One. Only now, using the information presented in the other chapters, the author shows that global warming will have a devastating impact on the area, displacing millions of people and submerging a huge rice producing area. Other visual areas and cities around the world are also briefly mentioned. And this is probably the world we have to prepare to live in.

Book read from 2021/07/15 to 2021/07/25