Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change [Paperback]

Michael Collier (Author), Robert H. Webb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002

No one in America would deny that the weather has changed drastically in our lifetime. We read about El Niño and La Niña, but how many of us really understand the big picture beyond our own front windows or even the headlines on the Weather Channel? Hydrologists and climatologists have long been aware of the role of regional climate in predicting floods and understanding droughts. But with our growing sense of a variable climate, it is important to reassess these natural disasters not as isolated events but as related phenomena. This book shows that floods and droughts don't happen by accident but are the products of patterns of wind, temperature, and precipitation that produce meteorologic extremes. It introduces the mechanics of global weather, puts these processes into the longer-term framework of climate, and then explores the evolution of climatic patterns through time to show that floods and droughts, once considered isolated "acts of God," are often related events driven by the same forces that shape the entire atmosphere. Michael Collier and Robert Webb offer a fresh, insightful look at what we know about floods, droughts, and climate variability—and their impact on people—in an easy-to-read text, with dramatic photos, that assumes no previous understanding of climate processes. They emphasize natural, long-term mechanisms of climate change, explaining how floods and droughts relate to climate variability over years and decades. They also show the human side of some of the most destructive weather disasters in history. As Collier and Webb ably demonstrate, "climate" may not be the smooth continuum of meteorologic possibilities we supposed but rather the sum of multiple processes operating both regionally and globally on different time scales. Amid the highly politicized discussion of our changing environment, Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change offers a straightforward scientific account of weather crises that can help students and general readers better understand the causes of climate variability and the consequences for their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While some books on climatology (such as Bob Reiss's The Coming Storm) sensationalize the destructive aspects of weather, this book presents a balanced and scientific explanation of the environmental effects of climatology. Collier and Webb work for the U.S. Geological Survey and have written numerous books on geology and hydrology. This work shows that floods and droughts don't always signal climate change. Instead, climatology looks at weather over the long term, and individual weather events are part of the natural process of the earth's redistributing the energy it receives from the sun. Moreover, climate change is also a natural phenomenon and not necessarily caused by humans. Though probably intended for a popular audience, this work reads like a freshman college textbook. The exclusive use of metric measurements without English equivalents may also confuse some readers. Still, this is a fine survey of climatology and is recommended for academic and large public libraries.
Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denver
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Need a basic introduction to climate? Collier and Webb, both of the United States Geological Service, survey the subject with estimable economy and clarity. They discuss the broadest influences on climate, such as incoming solar radiation and changes in the earth's orbit and axial tilt. Another fundamental of climate, the position of continents, which, along with prevailing winds, establishes the pattern of ocean currents, receives its synopsis, as does the centrality of ocean currents to the global distribution of heat--when they change, so does climate. The authors also address the most spectacular example of climate change, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, while noting comparable rhythms named the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation. Packed with illustrations and balanced between general and specific information, Collier and Webb's work superbly outlines and makes accessible a subject that is complex even for experts in the field. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816522502
• ISBN-13: 978-0816522507
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,349,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars This book, May 14, 2011

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Mark - See all my reviews

This review is from: Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change (Paperback)

Mark Nissen

5/12/11
Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change Review


The book "Floods, Droughts, and Climate Change" talks in depth about each of these subjects and also talks about how they can affect each other and other possible changes they could lead to. The authors also discuss how these are affected by other parts of the climate such as winds, water currents, tectonics, volcanism, and glaciers.
The authors are clear to point out the amount of change on an area a flood or drought could have. Floods have the capabilities to talk lives by sweeping through a town. Also, floods can happen in the blink of an eye with heavy amounts of rain or snow melt. Despite a floods power they are something that are very important for many people with floods abilities to deposit valuable nutrients in soils that help to grow valuable crops for many people around the world. Despite a floods ability to talk life droughts over time have killed many more people. Droughts are when there is "a persistent moisture deficiency below long-term average conditions that, on average, balance precipitation and evapotranspiration in a given area." Droughts have a large effect on the agriculture of an area and often droughts have led to a food shortage. Finally, droughts can lead to permanent changes in a areas climate by killing plants and changing part of the geography of the region.
Next, the authors discusses how geology can affect the climate, such as how tectonics has affected our current climate by affecting where areas are located, creating mountains, or creating areas were volcanism is present. The raising of mountains actually leads to a cooling of the earth by placing C02 on the bottom of the ocean. After this C02 is lost the atmosphere cools. Volcanism can affect the climate by releasing so much heat at one point that it can warm the climate, but that would need massive amounts of eruptions and magma left on the surface. Volcanoes can also release gases that contain heat and sun rays in our atmosphere instead of letting them escape to outer space.
Next, the authors talk about how wind, ocean currents, and air currents affect the climates of the world. All of these factors help to spread heat and nutrients throughout the earth. This leads to supporting life forms in areas that would not be there without these factors.
Finally, they focus on how the temperature of the earth is slowly rising and how that affects our world. If the world does in fact warm like they are predicting it could have a large impact on many animals and could affect food chains which would in turn affect whole ecosystems. The main factors for this change come from greenhouse gases the authors believe. They show this through the relationship between the increase in carbon dioxide and the global temperature.
This book is very well written and is easy for people to understand. I believe that if you are interested in this topic you would enjoy this book. Also, the authors do a good job of presenting this book that presents information on the subject while still including interesting stories that have come from these issues. However, I do believe that you will only enjoy this book if you are interested in this subject, if you are not at times it can be a very slow read and will not hold your interest.