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Books in Earth and planetary sciences

Elsevier's Earth and Planetary Sciences collection brings together pioneering research on the complexities of our planet and beyond. Covering topics from Earth's structural dynamics and ecosystems to planetary exploration, these titles support advancements in geoscience, environmental science, and space studies, offering essential insights for researchers, professionals, and students.

  • The Copenhagen Diagnosis

    Updating the World on the Latest Climate Science
    • 1st Edition
    • 26 Leading Scientists
    • English
    The Copenhagen Diagnosis is a summary of the global warming peer reviewed science since 2007. Produced by a team of 26 scientists led by the University of New South Wales Climate Research Centre, the Diagnosis convincingly proves that the effects of global warming have gotten worse in the last three years. It is a timely update to the UN’s Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change 2007 Fourth Assessment document (IPCC AR4). The report places the blame for the century long temperature increase on human factors and says the turning point "must come soon". If we are to limit warming to 2 degrees above pre-industrial values, global emissions must peak by 2020 at the latest and then decline rapidly. The scientists warned that waiting for higher levels of scientific certainty could mean that some tipping points will be crossed before they are recognized. By 2050 we will effectively need to be in a post-carbon economy if we are to avoid unlivable temperatures. Authors: Ian Allison, Nathaniel Bindoff, Robert Bindschadler, Peter Cox, Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudre´, Matthew England, Jane Francis, Nicolas Gruber, Alan Haywood, David Karoly, Georg Kaser, Corinne Le Que´re´, Tim Lenton, Michael Mann, Ben McNeil, Andy Pitman, Stefan Rahmstorf, Eric Rignot, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Stephen Schneider, Steven Sherwood, Richard Somerville, Konrad Steffen, Eric Steig, Martin Visbeck, Andrew Weaver
  • Descriptive Physical Oceanography

    An Introduction
    • 6th Edition
    • Lynne D. Talley
    • English
    Descriptive Physical Oceanography, Sixth Edition, provides an introduction to the field with an emphasis on large-scale oceanography based mainly on observations. Topics covered include the physical properties of seawater, heat and salt budgets, instrumentation, data analysis methods, introductory dynamics, oceanography and climate variability of each of the oceans and of the global ocean, and brief introductions to the physical setting, waves, and coastal oceanography. This updated version contains ocean basin descriptions, including ocean climate variability, emphasizing dynamical context; new chapters on global ocean circulation and introductory ocean dynamics; and a new companion website containing PowerPoint figures, lecture and study guides, and practical exercises for analyzing a global ocean data set using Java OceanAtlas. This text is ideal for undergraduates and graduate students in marine sciences and oceanography.
  • Ultrahigh-Pressure Metamorphism

    25 Years After The Discovery Of Coesite And Diamond
    • 1st Edition
    • Larissa Dobrzhinetskaya + 3 more
    • English
    Ultrahigh Pressure Metamorphism (UHPM) is a fast growing discipline that was established 25 years ago after discoveries of high pressure minerals, coesite and diamonds. The current explosion of research on UHMP terranes reflects their significance for understanding large scale mantle dynamics, major elements of plate tectonics such as continental collisions, deep subduction and exhumation, mountains building, geochemical recycling 'from surface to the core', and a deep storage of light elements participating in green-house effects in the atmosphere. This book provides insights into the formation of diamond and coesite at very high pressures and explores new ideas regarding the tectonic setting of this style of metamorphism.
  • Applied Drilling Circulation Systems

    Hydraulics, Calculations and Models
    • 1st Edition
    • Boyun Guo + 1 more
    • English
    Used to clean the borehole, stabilize rock, control pressures, or enhance drilling rates, drilling fluids and their circulation systems are used in all phases of a drilling operation. These systems are highly dynamic and complicated to model until now. Written by an author with over 25 years of experience, Applied Drilling Circulation Systems: Hydraulics, Calculations and Models provide users with the necessary analytical/numerical models to handle problems associated with the design and optimization of cost-effective drilling circulation systems. The only book which combines system modeling, design, and equipment, Applied Drilling Circulation Systems: Hydraulics, Calculations and Models provides a clear and rigorous exposition of traditional and non-traditional circulation systems and equipment followed by self contained chapters concerning system modelling applications. Theories are illustrated by case studies based on the author’s real life experience.The book is accompanied by a website which permits readers to construct, validate, and run models employing Newtonian fluids, Bingham Plastic fluids, Power Law fluids, and aerated fluids principles. This combination book and website arrangement will prove particularly useful to drilling and production engineers who need to plan operations including pipe-tripping, running-in casing, and cementing.
  • Tsunamis

    Detection, Monitoring, and Early-Warning Technologies
    • 1st Edition
    • Antony Joseph
    • English
    The devastating impacts of tsunamis have received increased focus since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, the most destructive tsunami in over 400 years of recorded history. The tsunamis that occurred as a result of the earthquake in Japan in March 2011 further emphasized the need for detection, monitoring, and early-warning technologies. This professional reference is the first of its kind: it provides a globally inclusive review of the current state of tsunami detection technology and will be a much-needed resource for oceanographers and marine engineers working to upgrade and integrate their tsunami warning systems. It focuses on the two main tsunami warning systems (TWS): International and Regional. Featured are comparative assessments of detection, monitoring, and real-time reporting technologies. The challenges of detection through remote measuring stations are also addressed, as well as the historical and scientific aspects of tsunamis.
  • Deep-Sea Sediments

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 63
    • English
    During the past few decades, deep-sea research benefited greatly from a number of newly developed, highly sophisticated exploration techniques and comprehensive datasets, thanks to the immense industrial interest in deep-sea sediments. The book Deep-Sea Sediments focuses on the sedimentary processes operating within the various modern and ancient deep-sea environments. The individual chapters track the way of sedimentary particles from continental erosion or production in the marine realm, to transport into the deep sea, to final deposition on the sea floor. The sedimentary processes cover several types of sediment gravity flow and contour currents, pelagic settling and hemipelagic advection, planktic and benthic bioproductivity, and volcanoclastic sedimentation. In addition, the relationships between depositional environment and endobenthic organisms as well as early diagenetic processes at and within the deep-sea floor are dealt with. Facies models of the wide range of depositional products hold the key for a process-related interpretation of ancient deposits. Changes in sea-water chemistry, major innovations in organism evolution, and changes in external controls on sedimentation and productivity are discussed in the context of overarching trends in ocean history. Deep-sea sediments are not only of interest because of the numerous interacting processes involved in their formation, but they represent also a nearly inexhaustible archive of long-term climatic changes. Consequently, the book also includes an introduction to the climatic interpretation of the various proxies that reveal global changes during the Mesozoic greenhouse and Neogene icehouse conditions. In order to address the specific interest of the oil and gas industry in deep-water sediments, the investigation techniques that are applied in this context and the methods to predict both the occurrences and the characteristics of hydrocarbon reservoirs are included as well.
  • Handbook of Industrial Hydrocarbon Processes

    • 1st Edition
    • James G. Speight
    • English
    Written by an author with over 38 years of experience in the chemical and petrochemical process industry, this handbook will present an analysis of the process steps used to produce industrial hydrocarbons from various raw materials. It is the first book to offer a thorough analysis of external factors effecting production such as: cost, availability and environmental legislation. An A-Z list of raw materials and their properties are presented along with a commentary regarding their cost and availability. Specific processing operations described in the book include: distillation, thermal cracking and coking, catalytic methods, hydroprocesses, thermal and catalytic reforming, isomerization, alkylation processes, polymerization processes, solvent processes, water removal, fractionation and acid gas removal.
  • The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 14
    • Nick Ashton + 2 more
    • English
    The Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project (AHOB) funded by the Leverhulme Trust began in 2001 and brought together researchers from a range of disciplines with the aim of investigating the record of human presence in Britain from the earliest occupation until the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. Study of changes in climate, landscape and biota over the last million years provides the environmental backdrop to understanding human presence and absence together with the development of new technologies. This book brings together the multidisciplinary work of the project. The chapters present the results of new fieldwork and research on old sites from museum collections using an array of new analytical techniques.
  • Evolution of Earth and its Climate

    Birth, Life and Death of Earth
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 10
    • O.G. Sorokhtin + 2 more
    • English
    The book reviews the current physical theory of Earth's global evolution, its origin, structure and composition, the process of Earth's core formation, Earth's energy, and the nature of its tectonomagnetic activity. The book also deals with the origin of the Moon and its influence on our planet's evolution. Based on the integral positions of this theory, the book analyzes the issues of the origin of the hydrosphere and atmosphere, and the conception and evolution of life on Earth. The monograph also reviews the adiabatic theory of the greenhouse effect developed by the authors, and the effects of nitrogen-consumingin... bacteria and of periodic changes in the precession angle on its climate. In particular, these effects cause the onset and periodicity of ice ages and a significant climate warming during the periods of supercontinent appearance (like Pangaea in the Mid-Mesozoic).
  • Storm and Cloud Dynamics

    • 2nd Edition
    • Volume 99
    • William R. Cotton + 2 more
    • English
    Storm and Cloud Dynamics focuses on the dynamics of clouds and of precipitating mesoscale meteorological systems. Clouds and precipitating mesoscale systems represent some of the most important and scientifically exciting weather systems in the world. These are the systems that produce torrential rains, severe winds including downburst and tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning, and major snow storms. Forecasting such storms represents a major challenge since they are too small to be adequately resolved by conventional observing networks and numerical prediction models.