Climate Extremes and Society

Description

Extreme climatic events present society with significant challenges in a rapidly warming world. Ordinary citizens, the insurance industry and governments are concerned about the apparent increase in the frequency of weather and climate events causing extreme, and in some instances, catastrophic, impacts. Climate Extremes and Society focuses on the recent and potential future consequences of weather and climate extremes for different socioeconomic sectors. The book also examines actions that may enable society to better respond to climate variability. It provides examples of the impact of climate and weather extremes on society. How have these extremes varied in the past, and how might they change in the future? What type of efforts will help society adapt to potential future changes in climate and weather extremes? The book is designed for all policy-makers, engineers and scientists who have an interest in the effects of climate extremes on society.

Dr Henry F. Diaz is a Research Meteorologist in the Earth System Research Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He has worked on a variety of climate issues at NOAA over the last 15 years, particularly the impact of climatic variation on water resources of the western United States. He is recognized as an expert on the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon and coedited El Nino: Historical and Paleoclimatic Aspects of the Southern Oscillation, also published by Cambridge University Press (1992). Dr Richard Murnane is the Program Manager for the Risk Prediction Initiative (RPI) and a Senior Research Scientist at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), where he leads RPI's efforts to transform science into knowledge for assessing risk from natural hazards. Dr Murnane's own research focuses on tropical cyclones, climate variability, and the global carbon cycle. Before joining the RPI and BIOS in 1997, Dr Murnane was on the research staff of Princeton University in the Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.

Review of the hardback: '... an interesting read and should appeal to anyone working at the intersection of climate extremes and social impacts of those extremes, especially those wanting to learn what the insurance industry is thinking about climate change.' Philip Mote, Oregon State University Review of the hardback: 'Credible contributors, primarily from the physical sciences, have made this book appealing to both scientists and policymakers with an interest in the technical analysis. ... human geographers and non-specialists will understand the straight-forward text, and find it a useful introduction to methodologies that are transferable to other locations and extremes.' The Geographical Journal