Joanna D. Haigh – författare

The Earth's climate system depends entirely on the Sun for its energy. Solar radiation warms the atmosphere and is fundamental to atmospheric composition, while the distribution of solar heating across the planet produces global wind patterns and contributes to the formation of clouds, storms, and rainfall. The Sun's Influence on Climate provides an unparalleled introduction to this vitally important relationship. This accessible primer covers the basic properties of the Earth's climate system, the structure and behavior of the Sun, and the absorption of solar radiation in the atmosphere. It explains how solar activity varies and how these variations affect the Earth's environment, from long-term paleoclimate effects to century timescales in the context of human-induced climate change, and from signals of the 11-year sunspot cycle to the impacts of solar emissions on space weather in our planet's upper atmosphere. Written by two of the leading authorities on the subject, The Sun's Influence on Climate is an essential primer for students and nonspecialists alike.

The Earth's climate system depends entirely on the Sun for its energy. Solar radiation warms the atmosphere and is fundamental to atmospheric composition, while the distribution of solar heating across the planet produces global wind patterns and contributes to the formation of clouds, storms, and rainfall. The Sun's Influence on Climate provides an unparalleled introduction to this vitally important relationship. This accessible primer covers the basic properties of the Earth's climate system, the structure and behavior of the Sun, and the absorption of solar radiation in the atmosphere. It explains how solar activity varies and how these variations affect the Earth's environment, from long-term paleoclimate effects to century timescales in the context of human-induced climate change, and from signals of the 11-year sunspot cycle to the impacts of solar emissions on space weather in our planet's upper atmosphere. Written by two of the leading authorities on the subject, The Sun's Influence on Climate is an essential primer for students and nonspecialists alike.

Weather and climate are not the same. Weather is what occurs outdoors on a daily basis and is unpredictable from one week to the next, whereas climate follows a stable pattern that is developed over centuries. The planet is divided into climate zones—tropical, temperate and polar—based on temperature differences with distance from the equator where the sun is most intense and temperature affects humidity, precipitation, cloudiness and wind. To understand what drives our climate, scientists study the atmosphere, the oceans, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. 30-Second Climate is an immediately accessible guide to the 50 key factors affecting Earth’s climate, past, present and future, each explained in half a minute. From atmospheric circulation to zero carbon, this is the quickest way to know your planet.