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Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World's Highest Mountains (John MacRae Books) (Hardcover)

by Mark Bowen (Author)
Key Phrases: northern ice field, greenhouse buildup, thermal drill, North Atlantic, United States, Younger Dryas (more...)

4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Residents of Florida and the Gulf Coast have seen an unusually early hurricane season this year. Thousands of people die every month as drought continues to grip Africa. In August 2003, 15,000 people, mostly senior citizens, died in a French heat wave. Popular-science author Bowen shows readers how these events result from climate disruption caused by global warming. Bowen frames his story with the exploits of Lonnie Thompson, a professor at Ohio State who pioneered the study of glaciers near the equator. Thompson challenged and eventually changed accepted beliefs on how climate change occurs with his revolutionary lightweight-coring techniques that draw ice cores from glaciers in South America, on the China-Tibet border and elsewhere. Bowen explains how carbon dioxide and water vapor interact to regulate our planet's thermostat and argues that scientific evidence conclusively shows that use of fossil fuels has accelerated global warming; in our lifetimes, he predicts, the snows of Kilimanjaro will be no more. This book will appeal to mountaineering and climatology buffs, but should be read by everyone concerned about the future of our planet. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Scientific American
The idea of drilling ice in the tropics as a means of studying changes in climate over thousands of years seems implausible. That work is usually done in polar ice. But Lonnie Thompson, professor of geological sciences at Ohio State University, has taken ice cores from glaciers on many high mountains in the tropics and found that they add fruitfully to the history of climate change. His reasoning was that climate arises from flows of energy from the sun and that most of that energy enters the atmosphere through the tropics. Bowen, a science writer and mountain climber with a doctorate in physics, accompanied Thompson on several expeditions. In a smoothly flowing narrative, he describes drilling ice at high altitudes and explains the science that points to a steady rise in global temperature as a result of human activities. That science prompted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to declare in 2001 that there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. A change of nine or ten degrees would almost certainly cause widespread catastrophe, Bowen writes in summarizing the panel's predictions. Available freshwater would plummet, taking crop yields along with it.... Increased flooding would pose a deadly risk to tens of millions of residents of low-lying areas. But, Bowen says, doing anything effective to curb the trend will be difficult: The economic interests who fear any sensible discussion of global warming have succeeded in politicizing this branch of science more perhaps than any other.

Editors of Scientific American

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Product Details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (October 13, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805064435
ISBN-13: 978-0805064438
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds

Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #782,186 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
northern ice field, greenhouse buildup, thermal drill, dust lab, parasol effect, great conveyor, seabed core, drilling expedition, carbon dioxide theory, greenhouse science, ice core drilling, drilling camp, water vapor feedback, layer counting, climate shock, precession cycle, dust events, glacial stage, medieval warm period, ice cores, drilling team, summit crater, core boxes, annual layers, abrupt climate change

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North Atlantic, United States, Younger Dryas, Bruce Koci, South America, Lonnie Thompson, South Pole, Ohio State, North America, Camp Century, Keith Mountain, John Mercer, Qori Kalis, Wally Broecker, Mauna Loa, Jim Hansen, Tibetan Plateau, Mark Bowen, Roger Revelle, Lake Agassiz, Lake Titicaca, Western Breach, World War, Colin Bull, Cordillera Blanca

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 61 books:

Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It by Gabrielle Walker in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
New Mexico (Portrait of America) by Kathleen Thompson in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the Fram, 1910-1912 by Captain Roald Amundsen on page 202, and page 214
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez on page 97, and Back Matter
Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez on page 97, and Back Matter

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

The Winds of Change by Eugene Linden

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Earth's Climate by William F. Ruddiman

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Paleoclimatology by Raymond S. Bradley

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Climate Change in Prehistory by William James Burroughs

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	86% buy the item featured on this page: Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate in the World's Highest Mountains (John MacRae Books) 4.9 out of 5 stars (10)
	9% buy Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming 4.2 out of 5 stars (17) $10.38
	5% buy Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming 4.8 out of 5 stars (16) $8.97

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Customer Reviews

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53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rich Tapestry of Science and Biography, December 15, 2005

By	Michael Levin (North Andover, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a hard book to categorize because it contains so many valuable treasures. Five major strands are woven together into a highly readable and enjoyable narrative. As a biography, it tells the story of Lonnie Thompson, a contemporary climatologist, his passion for scientific understanding, and his integrity and physical and intellectual courage. Drilling ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica has been a major source of knowledge of the climatic history of our planet, its temperature changes, and the composition of its atmosphere. But Lonnie Thompson realized that ice cores taken from glaciers found on high mountains closer to the equator held valuable secrets of the earth's climatic history not found in polar ice, and that they were essential to our understanding of global climate change both historically, and for modeling and predicting future changes. Furthermore, this valuable historical record is rapidly disappearing. Glaciers, with records of up to 700,000 years, are quickly shrinking. Kilimanjaro's will vanish completely within ten to twenty years. But until recently, there was little understanding, funding, or academic prestige within the scientific establishment for drilling for equatorial ice. Thompson's persistence in obtaining these ice cores, and the contributions they have made to science are the overall theme of the book.

It is to some extent a mountaineering book, but this is a subtheme. Mark Bowen, a scientist, writer and mountaineer, was invited to join Thompson on several high mountain expeditions, and describes these and others as well. Thompson took ice cores from glacial peaks in the Andes of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, from Kilimanjaro, and from the Himalayas, and the mountains north of the Tibetan plateau. The hardships and danger of high altitude mountaineering, and the logistic difficulties of transporting equipment, and bringing back ice samples are vividly detailed. However, Thompson, and the international team of scientists who worked with him over many years never climbed a mountain for the sport of it, but were always motivated by their passion for science.

Third, this is the story of the science of climatic change, and the gradual unfolding of our understanding of it over the past 150 years. The details revealed themselves slowly as more data was obtained from many places in the world, and from many sources, not just ice cores, but sea bed drilling, biological sampling, and others. And as the data emerged, the sophistication of mathematical correlating and modeling also matured. The clarity and detail of our understanding of both the past, and possible future scenarios continues to mature, but scientific consensus at the present leave little room to doubt that global temperature will rise as atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels increases, that polar ice will continue to melt, that the ocean level will rise significantly, that extreme weather will increase, and that global patterns of wet and dry regions will shift, although it is not possible to say how they will shift. The explanatory sections of the book are not only clear and easy to follow but reliable because Mark Bowen is both a writer and a trained scientist able to offer a path of clarity and balanced judgement through confusing arguments and claims.

Fourth is the anthropological story of the rise and decline of civilizations in the Andes, in North Africa, in Mesopotamia, and elsewhere. Within the last three decades, as climatologists have published increasingly detailed historical temperature and rainfall data, it has become possible to correlate these with archeological discoveries and cross check the dates. Time after time the story shows the emergence of a city-state which grows in size and prosperity until it hits the limits of sustainable agriculture. Then the climate changes, people starve or migrate, and the nexus of civilization moves elsewhere.

Finally, there is the story of the interaction of science and politics, and what happens when the findings of science conflict with what is convenient for political or industrial leaders to have us believe. This theme is presented in a factual rather than polemic or accusatory style. But the ability of the oil industry to create controversy where there should be none by hiring their own "research" and creating confusion by focusing on minor disagreements and ignoring overall consensus is unsettling.

This is an important, informative and enjoyable book which deserves to be widely read and discussed.

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quest at Quelccaya, February 4, 2006

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

For years it's been a given among climatologists that the first and most severe indications of climate change - "global warming" - would be at the Poles. Without intending to, Lonnie Thompson has been slowly but steadily revising that dogma. Real change, he tells us through Mark Bowen's account, is already visible in the retreat of glaciers. The dynamics of high altitude atmospheric processes, particularly in equatorial regions, are shrinking glaciers at an alarming rate. Thompson's investigations demonstrate that our warming world is in serious difficulties. Bowen, who is a physicist and a recreational climber, is able to impart the work of Thompson and his colleagues with enthusiasm. Bowen virtually takes you by the hand to share his experiences in glacial ice extraction and measurement. The analyses erase the last doubt about climate change and our need to reduce our contribution to it.

Although Thompson is the centre of this story, the real pioneer is John Mercer. Described by Bowen as "touched by genius", it was Mercer who effectively initiated investigation of "tropical ice" - when he wasn't jogging naked through city parks. Although the studies were originally intended to map the actions of Ice Age glaciers, investigation became more comprehensive. Now, glacial ice is revealing the pace of change is faster in our era than in the past and accellerating rapidly. The problems resulting from that meltdown are, and will continue to be, severe. Beyond the raising of sea levels from melting ice, changes in the weather are locked into feedback loops that are already having serious impact on human endeavours. Bowen's depiction of Andean societies' reaction to drought and catastrophic rainfall should give any reader pause. Lacking water, all farming communities, ancient or modern, suffer and die away. Any civilisation relying on them will follow in collapsing. Nor is the evidence and the issues confined to the Andes and lost civilisations. Asian mountains are being exposed by withdrawing ice. The meltwater upon which millions in China, India and other nations in the area depend, is disappearing as you read this.

What might have been an adventure story by a part-time climber and full-time scientist, instead becomes a serious account of what Lonnie Thompson has been revealing. Rather, what he has enticed from the ice. The drilling operation and the transport of ice make thrilling reading. We are teased along over whether the ice can be carried off a mountain top to a shipper by hot air balloon. We learn that there's more than one way to plunge a drill into ice. Once it's down there, can we coax it back to the surface? What's entailed in climbing high mountains besides altititude sickness? One of Thompson's students, who seemed mostly resistant to that affliction succumbs to an entirely different one. A porter, lugging a large chest of cores down Kibo, loses control with disastrous results. Yet, through it all, Thompson doggedly pursues answers to his questions. Bowen's relationship with Lonnie and his wife Ellen, Thompson's closest professional colleague, allows the writer to extol the achievements without depleting the researcher's humanity.

There are numerous books available on climate change, but few that depict how the science is done. It would have been easy for Bowen to delve into the arcane measurements and analysis techniques, leaving many readers puzzled at methods and their meaning. He's careful to strike the right chords - showing what the numbers mean and what they're based on. Ultimately, however, this is a story about people and the work they do. He explains how they rejoice at success, but aren't confounded by failure. They know how to adapt to changing circumstances and turn disaster into achievement. The information Thompson and his colleagues gained may put the adaptability of all humanity to an even harder test. Read this and find out why. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book - in several dimensions, February 25, 2006

By	J. Mann (southwestern NH) - See all my reviews

This is travelogue, musings, science, story-telling, and a gentle (non-polemic) argument about a critical present-day issue. The previous reviewers (especially the first two) and Bill McKibben's dust-jacket comment are good guides. Some of the author's descriptions of mountain scenery are quite beautiful. Although I always have been concerned about climate change based on the "precautionary principle" and "responsibility to future generations" ideas, this book helped me put some meat on the thin bones of my understanding. It also reached me at an emotional level, since the reader spends so much time with the scientists and get a close-up view of how they arrive at their understandings.

The book does not simply follow a chronological narrative, but branches off for visits to related topics. I found this style of organization effective and fun. (Like a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon where you frequently stop for a day to explore side canyons.)

There are 24 pages of notes and 21 pages of (about 400-500) references.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Climate change for beginners
My son recommended and bought this book for me. At university studying environmental science he started as a sceptic on anthropogenic climate change. He read widely. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Mr Micawber

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent summary of recent climate science
This is an excellent book on climate change, and in particular the less seldom discussed evidence for climate change in the tropics. Read more

Published on June 8, 2007 by John C. Ridge

4.0 out of 5 stars climate science isn't boring!
Thin Ice by Mark Bowen is a great story, well told. The book captures the excitement of experimental climate science and the extremely hard work that it entails. Read more

Published on November 9, 2006 by Elizabeth Olson

5.0 out of 5 stars Climate science + mountaineering + more = Superb book!
This is one of the best books I've picked up in years. Mark Bowen has produced a landmark piece of work. Read more

Published on August 19, 2006 by Martian Bachelor

5.0 out of 5 stars We are on Thin Ice
This book gets technical in the middle but it explains the politics and scientific mechanizations of Global Warming very well. Read more

Published on February 23, 2006 by J. Hughes

5.0 out of 5 stars "Crossing the t's and dotting the i's since 1990"
This was my first book on global warming and gained tremendous insight, plus it is an incredibly addictive read hard to put down, heroic mountaineering stories in exotic locations... Read more

Published on February 20, 2006 by Stephen Balbach

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for the President
Michael Levin has already written a superb review of Mark Bowen's book. President Bush should read this book, then reconsider his support of the Kyoto Accord.

Published on January 25, 2006 by James L. Breithaupt

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