The Long Thaw originally appeared in the Science Essentials series in 2009.

SCI.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue. Global warming in geologic time -- section 1. The present. The greenhouse effect ; We've seen it with our own eyes ; Forecast of the century -- section 2. The past. Millennial climate cycles ; Glacial climate cycles ; Geologic climate cycles ; The present in the bosom of the past -- section 3. The future. The fate of fossil fuel CO₂ ; Acidifying the ocean ; Carbon cycle feedbacks ; Sea level in the deep future ; Orbits, CO₂, and the next Ice Age -- Epilogue. Carbon economics and ethics.

The human impact on Earth's climate is often treated as a hundred-year issue lasting as far into the future as 2100, the year in which most climate projections cease. In The Long Thaw, David Archer, one of the world's leading climatologists, reveals the hard truth that these changes in climate will be 'locked in', essentially forever. A human-driven, planet-wide thaw has already begun, and will continue to impact Earth's climate and sea level for hundreds of thousands of years. With a new preface that discusses recent advances in climate science, and the impact on global warming and climate change, The Long Thaw shows that it is still not too late to avert dangerous climate change--if we can find a way to co-operate as never before.

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