Understanding Climatic Change A Program for Action (1975) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

SCOPE OF PRESENT RESEARCH ON CLIMATIC VARIATION
Pages 46-61

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 46...
... . CLIMATIC DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Here the current status of efforts to assemble climatic data for both the atmosphere and ocean is summarized, and the various observational field programs directed to the collection of specific data of climatic interest are described.
From page 47...
... . Using data from these sources, atmospheric data sets specifically for climatic studies have been assembled by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, MIT, and other institutions.
From page 48...
... The Navy's Fleet Numerical Weather Central, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, for example, all have specialized oceanographic data banks, as well as data from individual cruises and expeditions. Guides to the oceanic data services of the Environmental Data Service (1973)
From page 49...
... . Observational Field Programs Many observational data of importance to climatic research have been acquired in special field programs.
From page 50...
... . The review of the full range of paleoclimatic events on all time scales given in Appendix A of this report has been made possible by the recent application of improved dating methods to the stratigraphic record of ocean sediments and uplifted reefs.
From page 51...
... Proxy Data Records and Their Climatic Inferences Proxy data come from a wide variety of sources; potentially, any biological, chemical, or physical characteristic that responds to climate may provide proxy data useful in the reconstruction of past climates. One of the more prolific sources of long-term climatic information has been the extensive collection of deep-sea cores, obtained routinely over the years on various oceanographic expeditions and more recently from the Deep-Sea Drilling Project (Douglas and Savin, 1973; Shackleton and Kennett: 1974a, 1974b)
From page 52...
... Further climatic inferences are obtained from proxy data on marine shorelines. By assembling data on dated terraces at selected continental and island sites, and with the necessary adjustments for eustatic changes in the earth's crust, the record of sea-level variations over the last 150,000 years is becoming established (Bloom, 1971; Currey, 1965; Matthews, 1973; Mesolella et al., 1969; Milliman and Emery, 1968; Steinen et al., 1973; Walcott, 1972)
From page 53...
... Geological Survey, the Illinois Geological Survey, the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, and the Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Other efforts are conducted within the larger oceanographic research laboratories, such as the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the U.S.
From page 54...
... Physical Theories and Feedback Mechanisms Of particular interest in the problem of climatic change is the question of the cause of the ice ages. Among the recent attempts to answer this question are hypotheses that focus upon the roles of sea ice (Donn and Ewing, 1968)
From page 55...
... Diagnostic and Empirical Studies Related to the search for physical climatic theories and mechanisms are many empirical and diagnostic studies of various aspects of climatic change. Particular attention has been given to the analysis of the largescale variations of the atmospheric circulation that have been observed during the past few decades (Angell et al., 1969; Bjerknes, 1969; Davis, 1972; Namias, 1970; Wahl, 1972; Wahl and Lawson, 1970; White and Walker, 1973)
From page 56...
... . Analyses of selected climatic time series indicate only limited predictability on yearly and perhaps decadal time scales (Kutzbach and Bryson, 1974; Leith, 1973; Lorenz, 1973; Vulis and Monin, 1971)
From page 57...
... . These models include those that address only the surface heat balance (Budyko, 1969; Faegre, 1972; Sellers, 1969, 1973)
From page 58...
... Oceanic General Circulation Models Although generally less advanced than their atmospheric counterparts Oceanic GCM's have recently been developed to the point where successful simulations of the seasonal variations of ocean temperature and currents have been achieved in both idealized basins (Bryan, 1969; Bryan and Cox, 1968; Haney, 1974) and in selected ocean basins with realistic lateral geometry (Cox, 1970; Galt, 1973; Holland and Hirschman, 1972; Huang, 1973)
From page 59...
... At the present time, the simulation of the time-dependent evolution of past climates over thousands of years can only be achieved with the more highly parameterized models; the design and calibration of such models of the air -- sea -- ice system are largely tasks for the future. Climate Change Experiments and Sensitivity Studies Numerical climate models also permit the examination of the climatic consequences of a wide variety of possible changes in the physical system and its boundary conditions; such studies, in fact, are a primary motivation for the development of the climatic models themselves.
From page 60...
... Aside from the numerical simulations of anthropogenic climatic effects noted earlier, there have been a number of recent studies of the climatic consequences of atmospheric pollution (Bryson and Wendland, 1970; Mitchell, 1970, 1973a, 1973b; Newell, 1971; Yamamoto and Tanaka, 1972) and of the possible effects of man's interference with the surface heat balance, primarily through changes of the surface land character (Atwater, 1972; Budyko, 1972a; Landsberg, 1970; Sawyer, 1971)
From page 61...
... . Further studies are necessary in order to develop comprehensive climatic impact simulation models, with both diagnostic and predictive capability.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.