Beyond Global Warming - by Syukuro Manabe & Anthony J Broccoli (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Climate models are some of our most powerful tools for exploring human-induced global warming. These models, derived from numerical weather prediction models, are based upon the fundamental laws of physics. Using powerful computers, they can act as virtual laboratories for studying the structure and behavior of the atmosphere-ocean-land system. As our climate models get more and more sophisticated, they allow us to not only better predict climate change, but also to learn more about the physical mechanisms involved in climate, which remain difficult to isolate without the help of computers. Starting from Svante Arrhenius, the Swedish physicist who created the first climate model of the Earth over a century ago, this book presents a history of the use of models in studies of climate change. It is written explicitly from the perspective of the authors, particularly Syukuro Manabe, one of the forefathers of modern climate modelling. Although not a memoir, Beyond Global Warming will describe his (and, to a degree, Anthony Broccoli's) intellectual relationship to the development of the field at key points over the last half-century. The book begins with the basics of atmospheric circulation and the scientific antecedents of climate modelling. The authors then overview important historical advances, such as the first general circulation models, and the insights into climate physics they gave us. This includes the role of the oceans in climate change. In addressing climate modelling as a rich and consistently developing field, the book will demonstrate its power as a tool for revealing the mysteries of climate, one of the most complicated pieces of our planetary system, and its potential to teach us even more in the coming decades"--

Book Synopsis

From Nobel Prize winner Syukuro Manabe and Anthony Broccoli, a definitive account of how we have come to understand the fundamental processes behind global warming

Syukuro Manabe is perhaps the leading pioneer of modern climate modeling. Beyond Global Warming is his compelling firsthand account of how the scientific community came to understand the human causes of climate change, and how numerical models using the world's most powerful computers have been instrumental to these vital discoveries.

Joined by atmospheric scientist Anthony Broccoli, Manabe shows how climate models have been used as virtual laboratories for examining the complex planetary interactions of atmosphere, ocean, and land. Manabe and Broccoli use these studies as the basis for a broader discussion of human-induced global warming--and what the future may hold for a warming planet. They tell the stories of early trailblazers such as Svante Arrhenius, the legendary Swedish scientist who created the first climate model of Earth more than a century ago, and they provide rare insights into Manabe's own groundbreaking work over the past five decades. Expertly walking readers through key breakthroughs, they explain why increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide has caused temperatures to rise in the troposphere yet fall in the stratosphere, why the warming of the planet's surface differs by hemisphere, why drought is becoming more frequent in arid regions despite the global increase in precipitation, and much more.

Authoritative and illuminating, Beyond Global Warming is an invaluable insider's look at some of today's most cutting-edge Earth science, and a rare window into a brilliant scientific mind.

Review Quotes

"[Highly] engaging and well written."---S.C. Pryor, Choice

"Syukuro Manabe, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics"

"Useful and enlightening . . . . The knowledge derived from the model output is clear, detailed, and relevant to a better understanding of the climate system. The purpose of the book is to lead the reader down the path that Manabe and Broccoli have followed in their careers, showcasing the methods and motivation used in each study, and explaining and contextualising their findings. In each of these goals it succeeds admirably."---Eimear Dunne, Holocene

"Useful for those wishing to understand global warming's future impact."---Andrew Robinson, Nature

About the Author

Syukuro Manabe, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics, is a pioneer in the use of computers to simulate global climate change. He is senior meteorologist in the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at Princeton University. Anthony J. Broccoli is professor of environmental sciences at Rutgers University.