Han Dolman – författare

Changing concentrations of greenhouse gasses are key to our changing climate. Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate examines the interaction of the main biogeochemical cycles of the earth with the physics of climate from the perspective of the earth as an integrated system.Biogeochemical cycles play a fundamental role in the Earth's system - they describe the movement of matter and transfer of energy around the planet. This text aims to answer some fundamental questions. How have the cycles of key nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and water changed, both in the geological past and more recently through the impact of humans on the Earth System? How do these cycles interact with each other and affect the physical properties of climate? How can we use this knowledge to mitigate some of the impacts of changing biogeochemistry on climate, and the Earth's habitability and resilience?Understanding the complex interactions of biogeochemistry with the Earth's climate is crucial for understanding past and current changes in climate and above all, for the future sustainable management of our planet.

Changing concentrations of greenhouse gasses are key to our changing climate. Biogochemical Cycles and Climate examines the interaction of the main biogeochemical cycles of the earth with the physics of climate from the perspective of the earth as an integrated system.Biogeochemical cycles play a fundamental role in the Earth's system - they describe the movement of matter and transfer of energy around the planet. This text aims to answer some fundamental questions. How have the cycles of key nutrients, such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, and water changed, both in the geological past and more recently through the impact of humans on the Earth System? How do these cycles interact with each other and affect the physical properties of climate? How can we use this knowledge to mitigate some of the impacts of changing biogeochemistry on climate, and the Earth's habitability and resilience?Understanding the complex interactions of biogeochemistry with the Earth's climate is crucial for understanding past and current changes in climate and above all, for the future sustainable management of our planet.

Carbon dioxide has become one of the “defining molecules” of our century, due to its role in Earth's climate. This text traces the development of the perception of carbon dioxide through the ages. With layman summaries at the beginning of each chapter and extensive literature references and notes, the text takes the reader through the history of our understanding of the gas, from its early discovery as a separate gas in the mid-17th century to the recognition of its radiative properties and impact on climate in the late 19th and 20th century.The text describes the world's slow efforts to control the rise in carbon dioxide over the last 50 years and concludes by setting the stage for the Paris climate accords and subsequent negotiations. The world must reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide fast, and this book discusses options to achieve that goal.Han Dolman is a climate scientist and director of the Royal NIOZ, the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, as well as a Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences, Free University of Amsterdam. For many years, his work has been centered around the global carbon cycle and its relation to our climate. Over the length of his career, he has been involved in several international research programs such as the Global Climate Observing System.

The human interference with the climate system, the perturbation of the carbon cycle through massive release of greenhouse gases, caused by fossil fuel burning and land-use change, is threatening society and represents a key challenge for research and policies in the twenty-first century. Growing evidence of hum- induced climate change has raised public concern calling for urgent international policy actions. Initiatives culminated in the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol (1997), where Parties for the first time agreed on legally binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is worth noting that the unfinished ‘sink’ business, the Articles in the Kyoto Protocol dealing with terrestrial biospheric carbon dioxide sources and sinks, gave carbon cycle research a real boost. In the 1990s, the regional carbon balance and how the different ecosystems contribute at different timescales under different environmental conditions were hardly known. During the fourth Framework Programme (1994–1998), the European Union supported more than 20 research projects studying the components of the carbon cycle. These projects provided a solid basis for a more integrated attempt to tackle the research challenges and demands imposed by the Kyoto Protocol at European scale. Both the European Commission and the scientific community felt that it was time to develop an integrated carbon cycle research programme taking the new challenges on board.