A Student Guide to Climate and Weather. Volumes 1-5

675 Pages·9.72 MB·english

by  Gunn A.M.

A Student Guide to
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A Student Guide to
CClliimmaattee aanndd
WWeeaatthheerr
Weather Extremes
VOLUME 1
Angus M. Gunn
Copyright 2010 by Angus M.Gunn
All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted,in any form or by any means,
electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,except for
the inclusion of brief quotations in a review,without prior permission in
writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gunn,Angus M.(Angus Macleod),1920-
A student guide to climate and weather / Angus M.Gunn.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-35568-4 (set:hardcover:alk.paper) — ISBN 978-0-
313-35569-1 (set:ebook:alk.paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35570-7 (v.1:
hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35571-4 (v.1:ebook) — ISBN
978-0-313-35572-1 (v.2:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35573-8
(v.2:ebook) — ISBN 978-0-313-35574-5 (v.3:hardcover:alk paper)
— ISBN 978-0-313-35575-2 (v.3:ebook) — ISBN 978-0-313-35576-9 (v.
4:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35577-6 (v.4:ebook) — ISBN
978-0-313-35578-3 (v.5:hardcover:alk paper) — ISBN 978-0-313-35579-0
(v.5:ebook)
1. Climatology.2. Meteorology.3. Climatic changes—Effect of human
beings on. I.Title.
QC861.3.G86 2010
551.5—dc22 2009042256
14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.
ABC-CLIO,LLC
130 Cremona Drive,P.O.Box 1911
Santa Barbara,California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
C
ONTENTS
Introduction ix
Changing Temperatures in Ancient Times xi
Weather and Wars xii
Droughts,Floods,and Atmospheric Dust xiii
Arctic Warming and European Cooling xv
Tomorrow’s Northwest Passage xvi
1
CHAPTER The Great Ice Age and Volcanoes 1
Long-term Changes in Earth-Sun Relations 3
Volcanic Eruptions and Extremes of Weather 4
Tambora Eruption 7
Future Supereruptions 9
2
CHAPTER The Little Ice Age 11
The Little Ice Age 12
Europe after 1300 13
The First Europeans Reach North America 14
The Irish Potato Famine 16
3
CHAPTER Weather and Warfare 17
The Spanish Armada 19
The Kamikaze Wind 21
D-Day Weather Forecasts 22
vi Contents
4
CHAPTER The Dust Bowl of the 1930s 25
Learning from Dust Bowl Experiences 27
5
CHAPTER Weather and Floods 31
Weather Conditions before 1887 Flooding 32
Damage from 1887 Flooding 33
Weather Conditions before 1993 Flooding 34
Damage from 1993 Flooding 35
History of the Levees and Floodwalls 35
Weather Conditions before 1953 Flooding 37
Damage from 1953 Flooding 38
6
CHAPTER The Kenyan Drought of 1998 41
El Niño and La Niña 42
The Ethiopian Drought of 1984 45
7
CHAPTER France in the Summer of 2003 47
Arctic Outburst in January 1999 49
The Sun’s Heat Reproduced on Earth 50
8
CHAPTER Arctic Meltdown of Sea Ice 55
Impact on Arctic Human Life and Wildlife 55
Impact on Eastern North America and Europe 57
The Northwest Passage 59
Contents vii
9
CHAPTER Kivalina 61
Investigating Future Trends 63
10
CHAPTER Volume One Review 65
Appendix A: Important Dates in Weather and Climate History 67
Appendix B: Some Extreme Global Weather Events 71
Appendix C: Some Extreme U.S.Weather Events 79
Appendix D: Measuring Weather and Climate Events 87
Glossary 91
Bibliography 99
Index 103
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I
NTRODUCTION
This is Volume One of a set of five books on weather and climate
designed for schools and universities.These books are intended to
provide two kinds of information: an understanding of the scientific
processes at work in weather and climate,and an analysis of the ways
in which weather and climate impact human life and the places where
we live.The second of these goals is the more important of the two,as
there are a number of books in print dealing with the scientific
processes involved in weather and climate, but few on how weather
influences our lives.Beginning in the first volume with aspects of the
subject that impinge on us daily, such as the unpredictable nature of
weather, we go on in the second and third volumes to deal with
characteristic global weather patterns, before moving, in the last two
books,into more general themes such as global warming and earth-sun
relationships.A list of reference materials will appear at the end of each
book to assist in linking together the different aspects dealt with in
individual volumes.
The element of weather that catches our attention immediately is
the extreme event,something that is unexpected,and so this aspect of
the field is the subject ofVolume One.Weather is what we experience
day by day, and climate is what we expect to experience in a given
season or in a particular part of the year.Generally the statistical average
is what we use to calculate climate,and we define the different climatic
regions of the world according to these averages.However,the things
we remember and the things that get the most attention in the media
are always the extreme events—floods,droughts,heat waves—and it is
easy to forget that these rare events are as much a part of climate as the
conditions that come close to the average.Furthermore,in many parts
of the world on a regular basis,and over time in other places,it is the
extreme events that have the greatest impacts on human life.For these
reasons this first volume of the set on climate and weather is focused
on extremes, beginning with the extremes we experience in the
amount of energy from the sun.
The reason for our preoccupation with sudden extremes, even
though they may occupy only a brief period of time, relates to our
physical nature.If we are born into a place that is very hot or cold or
dry,or have lived there for some years,our bodies gradually adjust to