Richard C. J. Somerville

Written by an established climate change scientist, this book introduces readers to cutting-edge climate change science. Unlike many books on the topic that devote themselves to recent events, this volume provides a historical context and describes early research results as well as key modern scientific findings. It explains how the climate change issue has developed over many decades, how the science has progressed, how diplomacy has (so far) proven unable to find a means of limiting global emissions of heat-trapping substances, and how the forecast for future climate change has become more worrisome. A scientific or mathematical background is not necessary to read this book, which includes no equations, jargon, complex charts or graphs, or quantitative science at all. Anyone who can read a newspaper will understand this book. It is ideal for introductory courses on climate change, especially for non-science major students.

Written by an established climate change scientist, this book introduces readers to cutting-edge climate change science. Unlike many books on the topic that devote themselves to recent events, this volume provides a historical context and describes early research results as well as key modern scientific findings. It explains how the climate change issue has developed over many decades, how the science has progressed, how diplomacy has (so far) proven unable to find a means of limiting global emissions of heat-trapping substances, and how the forecast for future climate change has become more worrisome. A scientific or mathematical background is not necessary to read this book, which includes no equations, jargon, complex charts or graphs, or quantitative science at all. Anyone who can read a newspaper will understand this book. It is ideal for introductory courses on climate change, especially for non-science major students.

This unique text provides a thorough, yet accessible, grounding in the mathematics, statistics, and programming that students need to master for coursework and research in climate science, meteorology, and oceanography. Assuming only high school mathematics, it presents carefully selected concepts and techniques in linear algebra, statistics, computing, calculus and differential equations within the context of real climate science examples. Computational techniques are integrated to demonstrate how to visualize, analyze, and apply climate data, with R code featured in the book and both R and Python code available online. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter with selected solutions available to students to aid self-study and further solutions provided online for instructors only. Additional online supplements to aid classroom teaching include datasets, images, and animations. Guidance is provided on how the book can support a variety of courses at different levels, making it a highly flexible text for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researchers and professional climate scientists who need to refresh or modernize their quantitative skills.

Nearly seven billion people are collectively such a potent force that their influence on the global environment has begun to rival that of Mother Nature. Scientist Richard C. J. Somerville is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, and one of the authors of the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in equal shares to the IPCC and Al Gore for bringing the science behind global change to the world. In The Forgiving Air, Somerville weaves those critical findings into a more accessible story, making the most important issues of our time understandable to all.