Antonello Provenzale – författare

Theories and opinions about climate change abound – from those claiming human-induced climate change is already beyond control to those who express scepticism about the real extent of these changes.  How should we weigh up the scientific evidence, and what role does climate change play in the history of the Earth?

In this comprehensive history of the climate and climate change, Antonello Provenzale explains how the planetary climate system works and how the climate has evolved over millions of years.  Starting from the catastrophic events that marked the early history of the Earth, including seas of magma, global glaciations and mass extinctions, he demonstrates how the climate has fluctuated between hot and cold periods, with the Earth hot and lush with forests at certain times and almost entirely covered by a thick layer of ice at others.  The mechanisms that determine the modifications of the climate are multiple and complex and include external factors, such as solar luminosity and variations in the Earth''s orbit, as well as internal processes connecting the atmosphere, the oceans, the crust, the mantle and the biosphere, composed of living organisms.

While the climate has fluctuated a great deal over the Earth’s long history, there are two features of our current situation that are a source of real concern.  First, the rise in temperature of the last fifty years has been extremely fast, making it difficult for the environment to adapt to the new conditions.  Second, the human population is much greater than it was in the past, and this population needs water, food, energy and shelter to survive and flourish.  If temperatures continue to rise as they have in recent decades, ours will not be an easy world in which to live. To appreciate what is at stake, we need to understand how the climate works and how human activity is affecting it – not in order to save the planet, which will do just fine on its own and probably better without us, but to save ourselves.

This book presents important recent applied mathematics research on environmental problems and impacts due to climate change. Although there are inherent difficulties in addressing phenomena that are part of such a complex system, exploration of the subject using mathematical modelling is especially suited to tackling poorly understood issues in the field. It is in this spirit that the book was conceived. It is an outcome of the International INDAM Workshop “Mathematical Approach to Climate Change Impacts – MAC2I”, held in Rome in March 2017. The workshop comprised four sessions, on Ecosystems, Hydrology, Glaciology, and Monitoring. The book includes peer-reviewed contributions on research issues discussed during each of these sessions or generated by collaborations among the specialists involved. Accurate parameter determination techniques are explained and innovative mathematical modelling approaches, presented. The book also provides useful material and mathematical problem-solving tools for doctoral programs dealing with the complexities of climate change.

The critical zone is the thin outer veneer of continental Earth extending from the top of the vegetation canopy to subsurface depths where fresh groundwater circulates. It is the heterogeneous amalgamation of landscapes, ecosystems, and subsurface environments. The concept of the critical zone is relatively new and while thousands of manuscripts have been published from this interdisciplinary field, they exist within a wide array of journals, and none have comprehensively addressed the intersection between the geosciences and ecosystem science—“where rock meets life”. The goal of this contributed book is to promote the great potential that exists in a merger of critical zone and ecosystem science to further scientific discovery by leveraging the strengths of multiple disciplines to address societally relevant questions, keep pace with scientific advances, and more effectively engage with broader scientific communities and the public.

The core readership will be collaborative researchers working at the intersection between the greater Earth, environmental and ecological sciences, and policy and business sectors that draw on science evidence to support sustainable economic development. The book also serves further readership that includes scientists from many fields, particularly those in early and mid-career stages who are interested in environmental sustainability and are seeking to step out from disciplinary research into collaborative cross-disciplinary study.