Book ID: CBB273609964

Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole (2019)

unapi

Dry, Sarah (Author)


University of Chicago Press


Publication Date: 2019
Physical Details: 368 pp.
Language: English

From the glaciers of the Alps to the towering cumulonimbus clouds of the Caribbean and the unexpectedly chaotic flows of the North Atlantic, Waters of the World is a tour through 150 years of the history of a significant but underappreciated idea: that the Earth has a global climate system made up of interconnected parts, constantly changing on all scales of both time and space. A prerequisite for the discovery of global warming and climate change, this idea was forged by scientists studying water in its myriad forms. This is their story. Linking the history of the planet with the lives of those who studied it, Sarah Dry follows the remarkable scientists who summited volcanic peaks to peer through an atmosphere’s worth of water vapor, cored mile-thick ice sheets to uncover the Earth’s ancient climate history, and flew inside storm clouds to understand how small changes in energy can produce both massive storms and the general circulation of the Earth’s atmosphere. Each toiled on his or her own corner of the planetary puzzle. Gradually, their cumulative discoveries coalesced into a unified working theory of our planet’s climate. We now call this field climate science, and in recent years it has provoked great passions, anxieties, and warnings. But no less than the object of its study, the science of water and climate is—and always has been—evolving. By revealing the complexity of this history, Waters of the World delivers a better understanding of our planet’s climate at a time when we need it the most.

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Reviewed By

Review Jennifer Hubbard (October 2020) Review of "Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole". Environmental History (pp. 798-800). unapi

Review Lino Camprubí (2021) Review of "Waters of the World: The Story of the Scientists Who Unraveled the Mysteries of Our Oceans, Atmosphere, and Ice Sheets and Made the Planet Whole". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 164-167). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB273609964/

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Authors & Contributors
Rees, Jonathan
Jerry C. Zee
Baker, Zeke
Jessica Lehman
Sadar, Anthony J.
Baum, Rudy Michael
Concepts
Climate and climatology
Meteorology
Water
Ice
Atmosphere (Earth)
Environmental history
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
18th century
Early modern
20th century, late
Places
United States
Canada
Tropics
Niagara Falls
Montreal (Quebec, Canada)
Polar regions
Institutions
National Weather Service (U.S.)
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