Human Impacts on Weather and Climate

This was a great review of the issues involved in evaluating the impact humans have on weather and climate. It is a complex topic; but it is explained clearly (for me - a non-specialist with an engineering background). The major issue boils down to the normal variability of weather and climate over a wide range of time scales. This makes it very difficult to demonstrate statistical significance in deliberate or inadvertent human weather or climate modification. Claims that are not backed by actual fundamental understanding and statistical data may lead to a lack of trust in the scientific method by the public, with resulting poor policy decisions and large funding swings that harm the development of the core science. Also, I had not understood how significant land use is in it's impact on local weather and the global climate. This book opened my eyes to the extent we have modified the ground cover. E.g., human herding has potentially had an impact on temperature because of the modification of ground cover we imposed to maintain herds over the last 6,ooo years or so. Overall the book seems very even handed to me, and the fact that it has real references lets one check out areas of interest. And to verify some of the authors statements. Great introduction to the subject!

I find this book an outstanding introduction to issues related to human impact on weather and climate. Authors elected to divide the discussion into three main parts, dictated primarily by the scale of perturbation. The first part deals with some of the most striking examples of controlled human impact on weather: modification of clouds, hail suppression and modification of tropical cyclones. The presentation is clear, with many interesting historical and technical details and is inspirational for people interested in cloud processes. The second part shows that humankind modified already weather and climate at local and regional scale. Such human impacts are: anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and gases, urban induced changes in precipitation and weather, and impacts caused by land use. Authors did a good job is showing that regional scale atmospheric perturbations are by far the most intense and have clear fingerprints in observations as well as in numerical models. Finally, the third part has a broad presentation of human impact on global climate. This is well illustrated with climatic effects of anthropogenic aerosols, possible nuclear winter scenarios, and with the greenhouse theory. I think students as well as a broad spectrum of readers interested in Earth sciences will benefit from reading this book.