The White Planet: The Evolution and Future of Our Frozen World

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The White Planet: The Evolution and Future of Our Frozen World Page 34

by Jean Jouzel


  carbon monoxide (CO), 170, 269

  carbonates, 134

  Caribbean, the, 216

  Casey Base, 104

  cellulose, 59

  Chacaltaya Glacier, 23, 223

  Champollion, Jean-François, 54

  Chappellaz, Jérôme, 112, 147

  Charcot, Jean-Baptiste, 32, 34, 86

  Charcot base, 255

  China, 23, 58, 63, 151, 216, 220; CO2 emissions in, 171; increase in CO2 emissions in, 233

  chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), 162, 170, 270, 271

  chloride (Cl–), 71, 170; chloride 36, 128

  Chomette, Guy-Pierre, 225

  chronology, 59, 110, 112, 126, 135, 137, 151, 154; of ice core samples, 78–79; of volcanic eruptions, 78

  clathrates, 210; decomposition of, 44

  Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), 232

  climate, future of, 201; climate models concerning, 202–3; climatic projections derived from models, 205–6; the true threat of climate upheaval, 202–6. See also glaciers, future of

  climate change: adaption to, 241–42; during the last millennium, 183–85; ice as an indicator of, 14, 16; importance of research concerning, 247–49. See also aerosols; climate/temperature oscillations; Earth, history of temperature and climate change on; greenhouse effect; greenhouse gases; human activity, awareness of the impact of human activity on the climate; human activity, and the composition of the atmosphere

  Climate Conference. See United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

  “Climategate,” 189–90, 194

  Climate/Long Range Investigation Mappings and Predictions Project (CLIMAP), 110

  climate/temperature oscillations, 130, 149, 191, 193; and catastrophic events during warm periods, 139–42; clear indications of, 132–33; confirmation of, 134–37; connection of to the ocean, 143–44, 146; consequences of on a planetary scale, 147–48; initial evidence of, 91–92, 130–32; initial underestimating of temperature changes, 142–43

  climatologists, 174–75

  clouds, 87, 115, 116, 161, 175; cumulonimbus clouds, 4; effect of aerosols on, 181; and retroactions, 203–4

  CNRS, 79

  coccolites, 61

  Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), 83, 84, 89, 91

  Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA), 83, 87

  Concordia Station, 252, 258–60

  Conference of Parties (COP), 230–31, 234–35

  Congo, 23

  continental archives, 62–64; dating of, 64–66

  continental biosphere, 77, 115

  Cook, James, 18, 31

  Copenhagen, 82, 84, 136

  Copenhagen conference, 236; failure of, 189, 238–39

  copper (Cu), 264–66

  coral/coral reefs, 60; of Barbados, 137; effect of global warming on, 221; formation of “terraces” on, 62; measurement of carbon 14 in, 64–65

  cosmic rays, 152

  Courtillot, Vincent, 189

  Craig, Harmon, 96

  Creseveur, Michel, 94

  Croll, James, 39, 48, 76

  Crutzen, Paul, 271, 274

  cryosphere, 5, 14, 19, 199, 212, 248

  Danish Istuk drill, 100

  Dansgaard, Willi, 82, 83, 94, 96, 97, 98, 131, 132, 173

  Dansgaard-Oeschger events, 92, 139, 142, 144, 148; and the analysis of stalagmites, 146, 147

  Darwin glacier (Chile), 6

  David, Hélène, 225

  deforestation, 153, 168, 171, 238, 269

  deglaciation, 116, 125, 136, 148, 149

  Delmas, Robert, 89, 90, 111

  dendroclimatology, 59, 60

  Denmark, 28, 97, 100, 225, 249

  deuterium (D), 54, 55, 70, 76, 85, 120, 128; analysis of on the ice of Antarctica and Greenland, 90, 146

  diatoms, 61

  Dôme A, 260

  Dôme C, 97, 100, 103, 111, 119, 122–23, 148, 155, 165, 253, 254, 259; dating of ice cores in, 78, 126; drilling to reach the bedrock of, 98–99; ice core drilling in, 88–90, 92, 108, 124–26; interest of astronomers and astrophysicists in, 260

  Dôme Fuji, 103, 108, 109, 123, 126

  Donnadieu, Yannick, 43

  Donnou, Daniel, 89

  Drake Passage, 45

  Drewry, David, 100

  Dreyfus, Gabrielle, 119, 126

  Drobriansky, Paula, 235

  Dronning Maud Land (DML), 100, 147–48

  Dubois, Jacques, 86

  Dumont d’Urville, Jules, 7, 31, 86

  Dumont d’Urville Base, 86, 88, 99, 100, 258; average temperature recorded at, 7

  dust, 71, 72, 78, 90, 111, 115, 135, 137, 144, 254, 263; fallout of desert dust, 119; magnetic dust, 42; radioactive dust, 268

  Duval, Paul, 90

  Dye3, 92, 110, 111, 132, 134, 135, 137; changes recorded at, 143

  Earth, 40, 75, 116, 203, 248; absorption of the Sun’s energy by, 159–60; axis of rotation of, 7, 159; connection between Earth’s position and its orbit around the Sun, 39; inversion of the Earth’s magnetic field, 126, 128–29; magnetic field of, 261–62; orbit of and glacial periods, 46–47, 79, 173; “Snowball Earth,” 43; surface temperature of, 40, 161–62; water content of, 3. See also Earth, history of temperature and climate change on

  Earth, history of temperature and climate change on: and the accumulation of data from oceanic and continental archives, 66–67; and the distant past, 60; limitations of the historical approach to climate measurement, 58–59; and the recent period, 57–60. See also continental archives; human activity, and the composition of the atmosphere; loess, climatic indications present in

  Earth Summit, 227

  East Africa, 23

  East Antarctica, 12, 13, 34–35, 87, 100, 103, 123, 199, 255, 256

  East Germany, 231

  Eastern Europe, 231

  Échets, 146

  Eemian period, rapid/catastrophic events of, 139–42

  Egypt, 58

  Ekström, Göran, 198

  El Niño, 105, 148, 150, 185

  El Salvador, CO2 emissions in, 171

  Elephant Island, 27

  Elkohlm, Nils, 75

  emperor penguins, 250–51

  Endurance, 26, 32

  England. See United Kingdom

  Ente per le Nuove Technologie l’Energia e l’Ambiante (ENEA), 99

  Eocene/Oligocene transition, 44–45

  EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica), 100, 108–9, 122, 126, 154, 259

  Erebus, 24

  Eric the Red, 28

  Eurasia, 45

  Europa, 257

  Europe, 152, 220, 235; reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in, 233. See also Eastern Europe; Western Europe

  European Community (EC), 231, 233

  European “Great Challenges,” 100

  European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica. See EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica)

  European Remote Sensing (ERS 1) satellite, 30–31, 256

  European Science Foundation (ESF), 97, 100

  European Space Agency (ESA), 31

  evaporation, 94, 174, 176, 202, 222; and “latent heat,” 163; of ocean water, 16, 60, 62, 163, 174, 176

  Expéditions Polaires Françaises (EPF), 86, 99

  Filchner Shelf, 34

  Finland, 249

  fission, 65

  Florida, 221

  fluoride (F), 71

  foraminifera, 61; concentration of chemical elements in, 62; concentration of oxygen 18 in, 61–62; marine foraminifera, 131

  fossil fuels, 164, 165, 168, 178, 181, 210, 228, 233, 237, 264, 269, 272; CO2 emissions from, 171–72, 204

  Foucart, Stéphane, 191

  Fourier, Joseph, 75, 76, 163

  fractionation: of gaseous compounds, 143; isotopic fractionation, 55–56, 76; and precipitation, 61; water and the fractionation process, 55–57. See also calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and isotopic fractionation

  Fram, 24

  Français, 32

  France, 22, 63, 97, 1
00, 101, 121, 189, 231, 255; effects of global warming in, 222–23; generation of electricity in, 172; reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233 (see also Grenelle de l’environnement); temperature record of, 58

  Franklin, John, 23–24

  Franz Josef Land, 25

  Franz-Josef glacier, 208

  French Académie des Sciences, 195

  Gauss, 32

  Gébroulaz glacier, 208

  Gendrin, Roger, 101

  General Circulation Models, development of, 202

  geodesic chaining, 29

  geophysicists, and the “inverse” methods, 80

  geothermal flux, 30

  Gerlache, Adrien de, 32

  Germany, 60, 97, 99, 100; reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  Gif-sur-Yvette, 111

  Gillet, François, 89

  glacial archives, 68; and air bubbles, 74–77; multiple sources of impurities in, 71–73

  glacial lakes, 102, 120–21, 149

  glacial periods, 131–32

  glacial-interglacial cycle, 112, 149, 154–55, 253

  glaciations, 123, 253, 254; alignment of glacial deposits, 42–43; in Antarctica, 45; and atmospheric CO2, 39; in Europe (the Wurm, Riss, Mindel, and Gunz glaciations), 39, 41; magnetic dust in glacial deposits, 42; Ordovician glaciation, 44; past glaciations, 41–46; Permian glaciation, 44; of the Quaternary and astronomic theory, 46–49, 163; theories of past glaciations, 38–39, 41

  Glacier de Leschaux, 20

  Glacier de Saint-Sorlin, 21

  Glacier de Talèfre, 20

  Glacier des Périades, 20

  Glacier du Géant, 20

  glaciers, 16, 18, 197–98, 200; Alpine glaciers, 6, 21, 23, 88, 180, 206–7; area covered by mountain glaciers, 6; dynamics of, 19–20; decrease in albedo of, 206–7; future of, 206–9; loss of through ablation, 206; mass balance and glacier health, 21–23; mountain glaciers, 5–7; number of mountain glaciers, 6; position of the terminal tongue (front of a glacier), 20–21; variations in length of, 20–21. See also specific individually listed glaciers

  glaciochemists, 72

  glaciological models, 79–80

  glaciologists, 68, 70

  Global Carbon Project, 168, 233

  Global Change program, 177

  global warming, 116, 179–80, 273–74; acceleration of, 185–86, 197–98; certainty of, 185–87; differences between warming measured on Earth’s surface and the atmosphere, 194; skepticism concerning, 189–91, 193–95; and the white planet, 195–200. See also global warming, multiple consequences of; global warming, solutions for

  global warming, multiple consequences of, 218; for agriculture, 219; for animals, 223–24; for coastal areas, 220; for coral, 221; economic and political consequences, 225–26; and general global upheaval, 218–22; for human health, 221–22; for human populations in the Arctic, 224–25; for mountain ranges, 222–23; and the possibility of “climate refugees,” 220–21, 225; for polar ecosystems, 223–25; for tourism, 221, 222, 223, 248; water resource problems, 219–20

  global warming, solutions for, 227; meeting the challenges of slowing global warming, 236–37, 248; stabilizing the greenhouse effect, 228–30. See also Bali Conference; Grenelle de l’environnement; Kyoto Protocol

  Gondwana, 44

  Gorbachev, Mikhail, 250

  Gore, Al, 209–10, 221, 234, 275

  GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), 31, 36

  grape harvests, and the recording of summer temperatures, 58

  gravity, 76

  Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment. See GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment)

  greenhouse effect, 74–75, 129, 176, 183, 203, 250; as a beneficial natural phenomenon, 159–63; and climate, 113–16, 118; as a result of human activity, 163–66, 168–72; stabilization of, 228–30

  greenhouse gases, 43–44, 116, 162, 203, 221, 250, 254, 269, 273; anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations, 185, 187, 271; “indirect” greenhouse gases, 172; reduction of in Europe, 233; stabilization of, 227

  Greenland, 7, 12, 18, 25, 35, 38, 49, 68, 71, 72, 73, 85, 125, 130, 132, 141, 180, 194, 221; accumulation and ablation conditions of, 29–30; atmospheric pollution of, 264–65; climate relationships between Greenland and the North Atlantic, 144–45; coastal regions of, 197–98; contribution of to the rise in sea levels, 212, 213, 214; dating of ice cores in, 78; first glaciological measurements of, 28–29; highest region of the Greenland Plateau, 97; ice sheets of, 5, 10–11, 30, 46, 82–83, 200, 247, 253, 260; impurities in the ice of, 134; inhabitation of, 28; isotopic records of, 111; lead pollution in, 262–64; methane in the ice of, 149–50; mini-glacial earthquakes in, 198; movement of ice in, 69; and negative mass balance, 28–31; “sawtooth” sequences/structure of Greenland ice, 137, 144, 148; size of, 10; subglacial river discovered under the ice of, 107; sulfates in, 266–67; surface of covered by ice, 11; temperature measurements, 76, 146, 147, 148, 149; temperature variations in the ice of, 136–37, 149. See also Greenland, ice drilling in by researchers from Europe and the United States

  Greenland, ice drilling in by researchers from Europe and the United States, 96–98, 106–7. See also GRIP (Greenland Ice Core Project); GISP (Greenland Ice Sheet Project

  Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP). See GRIP (Greenland Ice Core Project)

  Greenland Ice Sheet Project. See (GISP) Greenland Ice Sheet Project

  Greenland Sea, 25

  Grenelle de l’environnement, 242–44, 274

  Grenoble, 79, 88, 89, 90, 94, 98, 104, 108, 119, 128

  GRIP (Greenland Ice Core Project), 97, 100, 103, 106, 125, 134, 147; dating of the GRIP ice cores, 135–37; instabilities in the GRIP records, 140–41; North GRIP, 107 109, 146, 253; origins of, 97–98; success of, 99; work of in the “scientific trench,” 135–36

  GISP (Greenland Ice Sheet Project), 91; GISP2, 97, 98, 106, 125, 134, 137, 141

  growth rings, of trees. See dendroclimatology

  Gulf Stream, 12, 134, 144; possible halting of, 214–17

  Gunderstrup, Niels, 91

  Haiti, CO2 emissions in, 171

  Halligen Islands, 220

  halogen, 71

  halogen compounds, 162, 168–69, 170–71, 172

  Hansen, Jim, 176, 185–86, 193–94, 203

  Hayes, Jim, 49, 65, 90, 110

  Heinrich layers, 143, 144

  heliothermometer, 163

  Highjump operation, 32–33

  Himalayas, 6, 105

  Högbom, Arvid, 75

  Hoggar, 44

  Holocene period, 66–67, 104, 132, 149, 150, 166, 272; monsoons during, 150; stability of the climate during, 123–24; volcanic eruptions during, 78. See also human activity, and the composition of the atmosphere

  Homo erectus, 272

  Homo habilis, 272

  Howard, John, 232

  Huet, Sylvestre, 191

  human activity, 272–73; awareness of the impact of human activity on the climate, 174–76, 201; and the composition of the atmosphere, 152–55, 168–72, 173–74; and the rise of pollution, 261–62; and temperature changes in the Northern Hemisphere, 183–85

  Humboldt Glacier, 11–12

  hydrocarbons, 172

  hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), 170–71

  hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), 171

  hydrosphere, 3, 3–5, 8, 257; as an agent and indicator of climate change, 14, 16; air bubbles in, 74–77; blending of ice layers and the dating of ice cores, 141–42; chemical composition of modified by volcanic activity, 151; CO2 content of, 87; decrease in sea ice, 176; electrical conductivity of, 136; ice older than that at Vostok, 123–26; isotopes of, 70–71; issues concerning ice dating, 77–81; microbiology of, 255–58; plasticity of, 19, 69; “sawtooth” sequences/structure of Greenland ice, 137, 144, 148; sea ice, 5, 12, 16, 24–25, 31, 32, 62, 78, 83, 99, 115, 116, 150, 176, 196–97, 198–99, 201, 223–24, 248 (see also Arctic Ocean); transition between water vapor and ice, 16

  ice caps, 5–7, 11, 14, 16, 18, 37, 38, 70, 88, 158, 200, 2
01, 219, 212, 248, 254; altitude of glacial ice caps, 77; glacial ice caps, 6–7, 10; in Iceland, 6; total area of, 6–7

  ice core drilling, 110–11; and the dating of ice cores, 78–81; deep core drilling in central Antarctica, 103–5; deviations in drilling of ice cores, 92; drilling by the Japanese, 103; drilling in Greenland, 106–7; initial deep ice core drillings, 82–85; objectives of glacial ice coring, 253–54; problems with drilling for ice cores, 141. See also Dôme C; European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA); Greenland, ice drilling in by researchers from Europe and the United States; Vostok/Vostok Station

  ice platforms, 10–14

  ice sheets, 14, 16, 18, 30, 38, 40, 42, 44, 62, 70, 77, 86, 112, 118, 151, 187, 191, 272, 274; of Antarctica, 5, 12–13, 247, 260; density of, 69; depletion of oxygen 18 in, 61; of Greenland, 5, 10–11, 30, 46, 82–83, 200, 247, 253, 260; loss of, 200; of North America, 144, 149; of the Northern Hemisphere, 46, 122–23

  ice shelves, 11, 199–200, 252; Larsen B Ice Shelf, 199; of West Antarctica, 13–14; Wilkins Ice Shelf, 199

  icebergs, 12, 13–14, 144; dating of Greenland icebergs, 83; influence of on deep water circulation, 66

  Iceland, 6, 97, 250

  Imbrie, John, 37–39, 49, 90, 110

  Imbrie, Katherine, 38–39

  India, 150, 220; increase in CO2 emissions in, 233

  Indian Ocean, 147, 165; dating of cores from, 65

  infrared radiation, absorption of by the atmosphere, 162

  inlandis (“ice in the middle of the land”), 10

  insolation, 77, 118, 150, 159–60; measure of by astronomical parameters (eccentricity, obliquity/tilt, precession of the equinoxes), 46–48, 160

  Institut de Recherche et Développement (IRD), 106

  Institut Français de Recherche et de Technologies Polaires (IFRTP), 99, 100, 101, 104, 252

  Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace, 202

  Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile (IPEV), 104, 252, 254, 259

  Institute of Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences (Russia), 256

  InterAcademy Council, 190

  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. See IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

  International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), 177, 249, 251

  International Energy Agency (IEA), 230

  International Geophysical Year (IGY [1957–1958]), 29, 34, 85, 86, 249, 255, 261; launching of satellites during, 250

 

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