How Our Climate Works: A Brief Guide in Seven Lessons

The global climate system in seven easy lessons-an essential primer on the science that shapes our worldEarth’s changing climate is the defining issue of our time.Climate science should be accessible to everyone, but for too long it has remained impenetrable to nonexperts.Paul Palmer throws open the doors to this vital area of research, inviting readers to discover for themselves how scientists take the measure of a warming planet, how the Sun’s rays help to balance Earth’s energies, how the planet’s rotation affects large-scale atmospheric patterns, how the Anthropocene is fundamentally altering the climate, and much more. Each chapter of this lively and informative book covers one of the seven key ideas that are central to understanding how our climate works-temperature, energy, air, water, cycles, time, and uncertainty-providing a user-friendly guide to the whole system.Palmer distills complex scientific concepts into plain language, making crucial facts about the climate available