Experimenting on a Small Planet

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 2-22

3. The Language of Science

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 24-61

4. Geologic Time

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 62-94

5. Putting Numbers on Geologic Ages

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 96-139

6. Documenting Past Climate Change

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 140-179

7. The Nature of Energy Received from the Sun: The Analogies with Water Waves and Sound

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 180-207

8. The Nature of Energy Received from the Sun: Figuring out What Light Really is

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 208-237

9. Exploring The Electromagnetic Spectrum

   • William W. Hay

   Pages 238-258

10. The Origins of Climate Science: The Idea of Energy Balance

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 260-290

11. The Climate System

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 292-324

12. What’s at the Bottom of Alice’s Rabbit Hole

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 326-372

13. Energy from the Sun: Long-Term Variations

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 374-431

14. Solar Variability and Cosmic Rays

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 432-467

15. Albedo

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 468-491

16. Air

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 492-512

17. HOH: The Keystone of Earth’s Climate

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 514-558

18. The Atmosphere

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 560-579

19. Oxygen and Ozone: Products and Protectors of Life

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 580-601

20. Water Vapor: The Major Greenhouse Gas

    • William W. Hay

    Pages 602-619

This book is a thorough introduction to climate science and global change. The author is a geologist who has spent much of his life investigating the climate of Earth from a time when it was warm and dinosaurs roamed the land, to today's changing climate. Bill Hay takes you on a journey to understand how the climate system works. He explores how humans are unintentionally conducting a grand uncontrolled experiment which is leading to unanticipated changes. We follow the twisting path of seemingly unrelated discoveries in physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and even mathematics to learn how they led to our present knowledge of how our planet works. He explains why the weather is becoming increasingly chaotic as our planet warms at a rate far faster than at any time in its geologic past. He speculates on possible future outcomes, and suggests that nature itself may make some unexpected course corrections. Although the book is written for the layman with little knowledge of science or mathematics, it includes information from many diverse fields to provide even those actively working in the field of climatology with a broader view of this developing drama. Experimenting on a Small Planet is a must read for anyone having more than a casual interest in global warming and climate change - one of the most important and challenging issues of our time.

• Climate Science
• Geology
• Global Change
• Paleoclimatology
• climate change impacts
• historical geology

From the reviews:

Selected by Choice magazine as an "Outstanding Academic Title" for 2013

“Geologist Hay (Univ. of Colorado at Boulder) provides a thorough but accessible description of the climate system and its history … . Experimenting on a Small Planet covers a lot of ground, starting with basic scientific principles before transitioning to climate science specifics. … Given the scope and presentation style, the book should interest experts looking to broaden their perspective as well as curious readers seeking reliable information on climate change. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.” (J. Schoof, Choice, Vol. 51 (1), September, 2013)

“Hay presents clear explanations and examples of climate chemistry, physics and oceanography for professional scientists as well as teachers and anyone interested in the scientific underpinnings of the current paradigm shift in understanding climate change. … Each chapter is a concise explanation of a specific scientific discipline of physics, chemistry, geology, oceanography, and climatology.” (Robert W. Scott, AAPG Bulletin, December, 2013)

“The book is aimed at both the general public readership and the scientific community. … it attempts to give the reader a thorough background in the basics that are needed to understand climate science and it succeeds extremely well in that goal. … I highly recommend the book … . I would certainly not be surprised if this book became a best seller, a mainstay in many college level courses as a text book, and contributed hugely towards resolving the on-going global climate change debate.” (Bilal U. Haq, Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 101, January, 2013)

• University of Colorado at Boulder, Estes Park, USA

  William W. Hay

Bill Hay began his academic career at University of Illinois in Urbana in 1960. From 1968 to 1974 he was Professor at both Illinois and the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. After serving as Dean of the Rosenstiel School he moved to Washington, D.C. to work on ensuring future scientific drilling in the ocean. In 1982 he moved to the University of Colorado, investigating ancient climates with colleagues at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Since 1988 he has also served as Guest and/or Professor at the Universities of Munich, Kiel and Greifswald in Germany, the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and the University of Vienna in Austria. He retired from the University of Kiel in 2002. He now lives in the Rocky Mountains, but returns to Europe frequently to teach intensive short courses.

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