Climate Change. Observed Impacts on Planet Earth. Edition No. 3

Table of Contents

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Climate Change: A complex problem 2. The Role of Atmospheric Gases in Climate Change

PART 2: TOOLS USED TO INVESTIGE AND PREDICT CLIMATE CHANGE 3. Climate Change through Earth's History 4. Numerical Modelling of the Global Climate and Carbon-cycle System

PART 3: INDICATORS 5. Global Surface Temperatures and Climate Change 6. Sea Ice and Climate Change 7. Antarctic Sea Ice Changes and their Implications 8. Land Ice: indicator and integrator of Climate Change 9. Glaciers and Climate Change 10.Poleward Expansion of the Atmospheric Circulation and Climate Change 11. Rising Sea levels and Climate Change 12. Ocean Current Changes 13. Ocean Acidification and Climate Change 14. Permafrost and Climate Change 15. The Jet Stream and Climate Change 16. Extreme Weather and Climate Change 17. Bird Ecology and Climate Change 18. Insect Communities and Climate Change 19. Sea Life, Pelagic Ecosystems, and Climate Change 20. Changes in Coral Reef Ecosystems as a result of Climate Change 21. Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change 22. Intertidal Indicators of Climate and Global Change 23. Lichens and Climate Change 24. Plant Pathogens as Indicators of Climate Change 25. Invasive Plants and Climate Change 26. Biological Diversity and Climate Change 27.The Role of Forests in the Carbon Cycle and Climate Change

PART 4: OTHER POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO CLIMATE CHANGE 28. The Variation of the Earth's Movements (orbital, tilt and precession) and Climate Change 29. The Role of Volcanic Activity in Climate and Global Change 30. Atmospheric Aerosols and their Role in Climate Change 31. Climate Change and Agriculture 32. Widespread surface solar radiation changes and their effects on the Climate: dimming and brightening 33. Space Weather and Cosmic Ray effects and Climate Change

PART 5: SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF GLOBAL CHANGE 34. Engineering Aspects of Climate Change 35. Societal Adaptation to Climate Change

Authors

Trevor Letcher Emeritus Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.