Future Climates of the World

Book excerpt: Future Climates of the World: A Modelling Perspective is Volume 16 of the highly prestigious series of climatology reference books World Survey of Climatology. The present volume offers a state-of-the-art overview of our understanding of future climates and is aimed at climatology undergraduates, interested non-climatologists with a scientific background as well as the generally interested reader. Each topic is discussed clearly so that the full implications of its affect on the earth's future climate can be fully understood. The study of climate has moved from data collection ``climatology'' to the model and experimentally based predictions of ``climatic science''. Our understanding of climatic prediction depends crucially upon improvements in, and improved understanding of, climatic models. The book compises four main themes which follow an introductory chapter i.e. the geologic perspective (I) and present-day observations (II) as they pertain to future climates; human factors affecting future climates (III) and planetary geophysiology and future climates (IV).