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 35

by Jean Jouzel


  International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), 177

  International Glaciological Expedition, 86

  International Partnership in Ice Core Sciences (IPICS), 253

  International Polar Year (IPY), 226, 247, 251–53; contribution of the French to, 252–53

  International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 224

  inverse method, 80

  inversion, of the Earth’s magnetic field, 126, 128–29

  Inybtehek glacier (Tian Chan), 6

  iodine (I), 71

  IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), 168, 173, 185, 187, 193, 201, 209, 220, 221, 228, 229, 231, 235, 247, 275; “errors” of, 190–91; establishment of, 177–80; on the possibility of reducing greenhouse gases, 236–37; report of on aerosols, 180–81; report of on human activity and climate change, 180; report of on the rise of sea levels, 212–13; skepticism concerning data used by, 189–91

  “iris” effect, 203–4

  isotopes, 55, 125; chemical properties of, 55–56; cosmogenic isotopes, 73, 78, 152; isotopic analysis, 63; isotopic geochemistry, 55; radioactive isotopes, 55. See also fractionation, isotopic; isotopic content; isotopic thermometer

  isotopic content: of ice, 140; of snow, 70, 85, 135; of water, 56, 57, 60, 63

  isotopic thermometer, 55; skewing of, 70–71

  Italy, 97, 100; reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  Jakobshavn glacier, 12, 30

  James Ross Island, 109

  Japan, 235

  Jeannette, 24

  Jensen, Dorthe Dahl, 253

  Johansen, Hjalmar, 24–25

  Johnson, Sigfus, 91, 132

  Jones, Phil, 189, 193–94

  Jouzel, Jean, 87–88, 94, 96, 100, 189, 191, 234, 243, 252

  Jugie, Gérard, 104

  Juppé, Alain, 242–43

  Karl, David, 257

  Keeling, Charles, 74, 164–65; and the

  “Keeling curve,” 164

  Kennett, James, 45

  Kepler, Johann, 46

  Kilimanjaro glacier, 23

  Kirschvink, Joseph, 43

  Kohnen Station, 100

  Köppen, Wladimir, 48–49, 174

  Kotlyakov, Volodya, 94

  Kyoto Protocol, 230–34, 239

  La Niña, 185, 195

  Labeyrie, Jacques, 88

  Labeyrie, Laurent, 119

  Laboratoire de Géochimie Isotopique (LGI), 87

  Laboratoire de Glaciologie et de Géophysique de l’Environnement (LGGE), 88, 111, 112; LGGE Grenoble, 106

  Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE) Saclay, 106, 119, 165

  Ladurie, Emmanuel Le Roy, 58

  Lake Agassiz, 149

  Lake Ojibway, 149

  lake sediments, 53, 60, 63; and the measurement of climate change, 61

  Lake Vostok, 102, 120, 252, 255–56, 257, 258

  Lambert, Gérard, 165, 210

  Lambert glacier, 13; surface area of, 35

  Landais, Amaëlle, 119, 143

  Langway, Chet, 84, 96, 131

  Larsen Ice Shelf, 35; Larsen B Ice Shelf, 199

  Laskar, Jacques, 49

  Last Glacial Maximum, 76, 87, 104, 110, 111, 116, 131, 142, 203, 238

  Laurentide ice sheet, 71

  lava, analysis of, 126

  Law Dome, 104, 109, 166

  Le methane et le destin de la Terre. Les hydrates de methane: Rêve ou cauchemar? (Lambert), 210

  Le Monde, 191

  lead (Pb), 262–64

  Legrand, Michel, 90

  Leningrad Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, 93–94

  Leningrad Mining Institute, 92; interest of in drilling techniques, 93

  Les glaces de l’Antarctique (Lorius), 86, 92

  Libération, 191

  L’imposteur c’est lui (Huet), 191

  Lindzen, Richard, 203

  Lipenkov, Volodya, 101, 102, 103

  Little Ice Age, 58, 152, 180, 183, 194

  Lliboutry, Louis, 88

  loess, 60; climatic indications present in, 63–64

  Loewe, Fritz, 28

  Lorius, Claude, 74, 86, 87, 88, 94, 96, 100, 252

  Lyell, Charles, 40

  Ma vérité sur la planète (Allègre), 189

  Madrid Protocol, 226

  magnesium (Mg), 60, 62

  Malaizé, Bruno, 119

  Malaspina glacier (Alaska), 6

  Maldive Islands, 220

  mammoths, 8–9, 210

  Marie Byrd Land, 12

  marine biosphere, 221

  Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS), 153

  marine salt, 72

  marine sediments, 49, 63, 64, 66, 90, 96, 110, 111, 128, 131, 143, 144, 147, 153, 155, 253; composition of, 61

  Mars, 203, 257

  Massif Central caves, 146, 187

  Masson-Delmotte, Valérie, 146, 253

  Mauna Loa, 164

  Maunder Minimum, 152, 160

  Mayewski, Paul, 96

  McMurdo Base, 84, 85, 89, 104

  Mediterranean area, 218, 220

  Mediterranean Sea, 147

  Mer de Glace glacier, 6, 20, 37–38, 209

  Mercer, John, 14

  Météo France, 202

  methane (CH4), 43, 76, 114, 162, 168–69, 172, 175, 269, 271; formation of, 210–11; hydrates of, 210; increase of during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, 44; oxidation of, 170; production of, 169–70; production of and the extent of flooded zones, 147; thermal methane, 211; variations in methane concentration, 115, 125, 152, 153–54

  methanogenic bacteria, 211

  microbiologists, 121

  Milankovitch, Milutin, 39, 48–49, 90, 112

  Miller, Heinz, 100

  Mirney Station, 92

  Moisselin, Jean-Marc, 58

  Monaco glacier (Spitzberg), 6

  Monod, Théodore, 275

  monsoons, 66, 105, 199, 126, 147, 149, 150, 203

  Mont Blanc, 19, 21

  Mont Blanc du Tacul, 20

  Mont-Blanc Massif, 222

  Montreal Protocol, 271

  Moon, the, 257

  Morel, Pierre, 177

  Moscow Institute of Geography, 94

  Mount Kirkpatrick, 13

  mountain massifs, 38

  Mullen, George, 40

  Muller, Richard, 193

  Muztagh Ata, ice core drilling by the Chinese at, 106

  Nansen, Fridtjof, 24–25, 250

  National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), 30, 176, 202

  National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 202, 209

  National Science Foundation (NSF), 89, 96, 101

  Nature, 94, 110, 114, 119, 140

  neodymium (Nd), 72

  Neo-Proterozoic period, 42

  Netherlands, the, 100, 190, 216; freezing of canals in, 58

  New Guinea, 23

  New York Herald, 24

  New York Times, 94

  New Zealand, 208

  Ngojumba glacier (Nepal), 6

  Nigardsreen glacier, 208

  nitrate, 135

  nitrogen (N), 54, 64, 71, 76, 77, 162, 165, 175

  nitrogen isotopes, 88

  nitrogen oxides (NOx), 172, 269

  nitrogen protoxide (N2O), 76, 172

  nitrous oxide (N2O), 162, 168, 171, 172

  Nordenskjold, Nils, 24

  North Africa, 150

  North America, 23, 45, 223; droughts in, 150

  North Atlantic, 12, 25, 132, 133, 134, 144, 148, 216

  North Pole, 7, 8, 18, 37, 225–26; international observatories of, 249–50

  North Sea, 220

  Northern Hemisphere, 5, 9, 42, 48, 112, 115, 146, 147, 149, 150, 154, 165, 198, 215, 261, 270; amount of ice in, 38; history of pollution in (1773–1992), 264–66; ice sheets of, 46, 122–23; monsoons of, 119; nuclear testing in, 73; radioactivity in, 268; snow-covered surfaces of, 196; theories for the presence of ice in, 38–39, 41; warming of, 116, 118, 183–84

  Northwest Passage, 24

/>   Norway, 28, 100, 208, 225, 250

  Norwegian Sea, 27, 133

  nuclear energy, 84, 237

  nuclear technology, 99

  nuclear weapons, 216; testing of, 73, 78, 85, 268

  nunataks (“land in the middle of glaciers”), 12

  Observatoire National sur les Effets du Réchauffement Climatique (ONERC), 241

  oceanic archives, dating of, 64–66

  oceans, 56; and the absorption of CO2, 164–65, 168, 221; CO2 content of the oceans, 133; evaporation of ocean water, 16, 60, 62, 163, 174, 176; frozen oceans, 43; ocean circulation, 133–34; salinity of, 62; thermal expansion of, 187, 194

  Oerlemans, Hans, 21

  Oeschger, Hans, 74, 85, 89, 96, 97, 132, 133, 143

  “On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground” (Arrhenius), 74–75

  orbital forcing, 114

  Ordovician period, 44

  oxidation, 71

  oxygen (O), isotopes of: analysis of oxygen 18 on the ice of Antarctica and Greenland, 90; concentration of oxygen 18 in surface ocean waters, 62; oxygen 17, 54; oxygen 18, 54, 55, 56, 59, 61, 63, 70, 76, 80, 85, 120, 131, 136; oxygen 18 and the composition of precipitate carbonate, 60; oxygen 18 in air bubbles, 119; oxygen in seawater, 144

  ozone (O3), 162, 172, 221; ozone layer, 171, 178; stratospheric ozone, 178

  ozone hole, 269–71

  Pachauri, Rejendra, 234

  Pacific Ocean, 133, 147, 225

  paleoaltimeter, 77

  Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, 44

  paleoceanography, 61–62

  paleoclimates, 49

  paleoclimatologists, 45, 57, 120

  paleoclimatology, 60; guiding principle of, 54–55

  paleomagneticians, 42

  palynology, 63

  Parc Montsouris observatory, 270

  Paris, 47–48

  Parrenin, Frédéric, 80

  Patagonia, 23, 119

  Patterson, Clair, 262–63

  Peltier, Dick, 65

  Penck, Albrecht, 39, 49

  Pensacola Mountains, 34

  perfluoride compounds (PFCs), 171

  permafrost, 5, 18, 83, 198, 210–11, 225, 248, 252; permafrost zones, 9–10

  Permian period, 44

  Petit, Jean-Robert, 90, 94, 101, 119

  photosynthesis, 57

  Pic du Midi observatory, 270

  Pierrehumbert, Ray, 191

  plankton, 61

  polar amplification, 195–96

  polar bears, decreasing habitat of, 224

  pollen, 63, 130, 131, 146

  pollution: from heavy metals including copper, 264–66; history of in the Northern Hemisphere (1773–1992), 264–66; lead pollution, 262–64; from radioactivity, 268–69; rise in due to human activity, 261–62; spread of in the Arctic and Antarctic, 262; from sulfates, 266–67. See also ozone hole

  polynya (open water surrounded by sea ice), 26

  Portugal, reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  potassium 40 (K), 64

  Pouiller, Claude, 163

  Pourquoi Pas, 32

  Precambrian period, 40

  precipitation, 79, 174. See also precipitation, types of precipitation, types of: graupels, 4, 5; hail, 4, 5; snow, 4–5

  Princeton Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), 202

  Priscu, John, 257

  Putin, Vladimir, 232

  Pyrenees, 222

  Qin-Dahe, 185

  Quaternary period, 40, 45–46, 63, 65, 66, 90, 110, 160, 250, 274; glaciations of, 46–49, 163

  Queen Maud Land, 34

  Quervain, Alfred de, 28

  radioactivity, 268–69

  radiolars, 61

  Raisbeck, Grant, 79, 119, 128

  Randall, Doug, 216

  Raynaud, Dominique, 87, 89, 119, 189, 252

  RealClimate, 191

  “Remarques générals sur les températures de globe terrestre et des espaces planétaires” (Fourier), 75

  Resolute Bay, 7

  Revelle, Roger, 164

  Rignot, Éric, 198

  Robin, Gordon, 256

  Rodinia, 43

  Romania, reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelf, 13, 14

  Ross, James, 31–32

  Ross Ice Shelf, 13, 14, 34

  Ross Sea, 26, 34

  Roth, Étienne, 83

  rubidium (Rb), 72

  Rudd, Kevin, 232

  Ruddiman, Bill, 153–55

  Russia, 9, 101, 121, 225, 231, 232, 235, 250, 255; importance of snow to, 10–11; reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  Rutford glacier, 213

  Rwenzori Mountains, 23

  Sagan, Carl, 40

  Sahara Desert, 44

  Saint Petersburg Mining Institute, 101

  Saint-Sorlin glacier, 208

  Santorini, volcanic eruption on, 151

  Sarkozy, Nicolas, 242, 243

  “sawtooth” sequences/structure, 137, 144

  sea levels, 16–17; rapid rise of, 211–14

  Scandinavia, 23, 85

  Schlich, Roland, 86

  Schmidt, Gavin, 191

  Scholander, Per, 73

  Schwartz, Peter, 216

  Science, 110; letters and articles concerning scientific ethics in, 191

  Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), 249

  Scott, Robert, 32

  Scott Polar Research Institute, 255

  Severinghaus, Jeff, 142

  Shackleton, Ernest, 26, 32

  Shackleton, Nick, 45, 49, 65, 90, 110

  Shackleton Mountains, 34

  Shishmaref, 225

  Siachen glacier (Karakorum), 6

  Siberia, 9, 10, 23, 216

  Siberian Arctic, 37

  Sierra Nevada Mountains, 223

  silica, 61

  Siple Dome, 105

  snow, 3–5, 55, 73, 268, 269; density of, 5–6; “dry” snow, 12; importance of to Russia, 10; isotopic content of, 70–71; life expectancy of snowflakes, 68–69; névé snow, 5–6, 72; permanent snow, 5; snow shapes in Siberia (zastrougi and sastrugi), 10

  solar constant, 160

  solar radiation, 46, 161, 175, 176, 181, 196

  Solomon, Susan, 185, 221

  South Africa, 220

  South America, 44, 45, 119, 122, 223;

  climate change in, 150

  South Georgia, 32

  South Pole, 11, 31, 32, 37, 44, 104, 164, 255; isotopic content of snow at, 85

  South Pole Station, 164

  Southeast Asia, 150, 220

  Southern Hemisphere, 5, 42, 147, 148, 165, 261

  Southern Ocean, 8, 45, 118

  Sowers, Todd, 119

  Spain, reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  Spitzberg, 25

  stalagmites, 63; and Dansgaard-Oeschger events, 146, 147

  Stauffer, Bernhard, 133

  Steffensen, Jorgen Peder, 146

  Stern, Nicholas, 243; and the Stern Report, 237

  Stockholm Physics Society, 75

  stratosphere, 162, 170, 171, 172, 262, 268, 270; cooling of, 194, 195, 271; thermal structure of, 269. See also ozone hole

  strontium (Sr), 60

  subduction, 62

  subglacial floors, topography of, 13

  subglacial lakes, 121, 149, 255; discovery of a subglacial lake below Vostok Station, 102, 120–21, 252, 255–56, 258; microbiology of, 255–58

  subglacial ocean, 257

  subglacial river, 107

  Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), 231

  Suess, Hans, 164

  sulfates, 78, 266–67

  sulfur (S), 71, 72, 151

  Sullivan, Walter, 94

  Summit Station, 97, 98, 264, 266–67

  Sun, the, 7, 20, 38–39, 75, 159–60, 174; beams of, 7–8; increase in the luminosity of, 40; luminosity of, 43, 44; paradox of the pale Sun, 40; solar activity and volcanism, 150–52; surface temperature of, 161;
variations in solar activity, 160–61. See also solar radiation

  Svalbard ice cap (Spitzberg), 6

  Sweden, 100, 250

  Swedish Meteorology Office, 75

  Swiss Clariden Glacier, 21

  Switzerland, 22, 97, 100

  Talos Dome, 104, 254

  Tasman glacier (New Zealand), 6

  Taylor Dome, 104

  temperature, 3–4, 5, 6, 8, 14, 16, 55, 58–60, 62, 68, 75, 76, 90, 124, 125, 128, 144, 150, 155; average temperature of the continents, 174, 176, 177; of celestial bodies, 161; evolution of mean temperature of the Earth, 183, 185; and the formation of glacial lakes, 149; and the fusion point, 69; increase in ocean temperatures, 187; and the isotopic content of snow, 70, 135; measurement of average global temperature, 193; pre-industrial temperature, 230; temperature curve of the Earth’s surface, 40, 44–45; temperature record in France, 58; temperature record in Greenland, 76, 146, 147, 148, 149; underestimated changes in, 142–43. See also climate/temperature oscillations; Earth, surface temperature of; global warming; greenhouse effect, stabilization of; Sun, the, surface temperature of

  Terra Nova Bay, 99, 100, 104, 258, 259

  Territoires des Terres Australes et Antarctique Françaises (TAAF), 99

  Terror, 24

  thermal expansion, inertia of, 213

  thermohaline circulation, 148, 149; halting of, 215–16; inverse thermohaline circulation, 215

  thermophilic bacteria, 257

  Thompson, Lonnie, 105–6

  Tiros satellite, 30

  Toba, 78

  Transantarctic Mountains, 12

  trees, and the measurement of climate history, 59–60

  Treut, Hervé Le, 203

  tritium (3H), 85, 268–69

  troposphere, 162, 195, 221, 269

  Tuvalu Islands, 220

  Tyndall, John, 163

  Tyrol, the, 19

  Uganda, 23

  ultraviolet radiation, 270

  United Kingdom, 97, 99, 100; reduction of greenhouse gases in, 233

  United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 178

  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 227, 230, 238, 239

  United States, 101, 121, 147, 216, 220, 225, 231, 232, 249, 255; CO2 emissions in, 171, 233; opposition of to the data of the Bali Conference, 235–36; use of unleaded gas in, 264

  Uppsala (Patagonia), 6

  uranium-thorium dating method, 65

  urbanization, 58, 139

  Urey, Harold, 61

  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 83

  Vallée Blanche, 20

  Van Allen Belt, 250

  Vasiliev, Nikolay, 102

  Vatnajokull ice cap (Iceland), 6

  Venus, 203

  Victor, Paul-Émile, 28, 34

  Victoria Land, 31, 86

  Vietnam, CO2 emissions in, 171

  Villach Conference (1985), 177

  Villars cave, 63, 146

 

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