| Description |
1 online resource (x, 275 pages) : illustrations, maps |
| Contents |
Part 1: Who is El Niño? -- A mercurial character -- A fallen angel? -- A construct of ours -- A matchmaker -- Part 2: Our dilemma -- Two incompatible cultures -- "Small" science versus "big" science -- Part 3: Common ground -- The perspective of a painter -- The perspective of a poet -- The perspective of a musician -- A marriage of the "hard" and "soft" sciences -- The cloud -- Part 4: A brief history of the science -- Predicting the weather -- Investigating the atmospheric circulation -- Exploring the oceans -- Reconciling divergent perspectives on El Niño -- Taking a long-term geological view -- Part 5: Coping with hazards -- Famines in India -- Fisheries of Peru -- Droughts in Zimbabwe -- Epilogue: becoming custodians of planet Earth |
| Summary |
"Until 1997, few people had heard of the seasonal current that Peruvians nicknamed El Nino. But when meteorologists linked it to devastating floods in California, severe droughts in Indonesia, and strange weather everywhere, its name became entrenched in the common parlance faster than a typhoon making landfall. Bumper stickers appeared bearing this phrase "Don't blame me, blame El Nino." Stockbrokers muttered "El Nino" when the market became erratic." "What's behind this fascinating natural phenomenon, and how did our perceptions of it change? In this captivating book, renowned oceanographer George Philander engages readers in lucid and stimulating discussions of the scientific, political, economic, and cultural developments that shaped our perceptions to this force of nature." "The book begins by outlining the history of El Nino, an innocuous current that appears off the coast of Peru around Christmastime - its name refers to the Child Jesus - and originally was welcomed as a blessing. It goes on to explore how our perceptions of El Nino were transformed, not because the phenomenon changed, but because we did. Philander argued persuasively that familiarity with the different facets of our affair with El Nino - our wealth of experience in dealing with natural hazards such as severe storms and prolonged droughts can help us cope with an urgent and controversial environmental problem of our own making global warming."--Jacket |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-272) and index |
| Subject |
Climatic changes
|
|
Climate Change
|
|
climate change.
|
|
SCIENCE -- Earth Sciences -- Geography.
|
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SCIENCE -- Earth Sciences -- Geology.
|
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Climatic changes.
|
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Anthropogene Klimaänderung
|
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El-Niño-Phänomen
|
| SUBJECT |
El Niño Current. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85041456
|
| Subject |
Pacific Ocean -- El Niño Current.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2003044235 |
| ISBN |
9780691187921 |
|
0691187924 |
|
0691113351 |
|
9780691113357 |
|
9780691126227 |
|
0691126224 |
|
