Climate Variability and Extremes during the Past 100 years

This volume provides an up to date overview of climate variability during the 20th century in the context of natural and anthropogenic variability. It compiles a number of contributions to a workshop held in Gwatt, Switzerland, in July 2006 dealing with different aspects of climate change, variability, and extremes during the past 100 years. The individual contributions cover a broad range of topics. The volume fills a gap in this exciting field of research.

"The past 100 years are a key period for understanding climate variability and climate change as it marks the changeover from a climate system dominated by natural influences to a climate system dominated by anthropogenic influences. This volume compiles a number of contributions to a workshop held in Gwatt, Switzerland, in July 2006 dealing with different aspects of climate change, variability, and extremes during the past 100 years. The individual contributions cover a broad range of topics, ranging from the re-evaluation of historical marine data to the effect of solar variability on the stratosphere.

The Observational Climate Record.- A Focus on Climate During the Past 100 Years.- From the Bottom to the Stratosphere Arctic Climate Features as Seen from the First International Polar Year (1882-1883) Until the End of World War II.- Arctic Sea Ice Data Sets in the Context of Climate Change During the 20th Century.- The Evolving SST Record from ICOADS.- Upper-air Temperature Trends: Current Problems and Some Recent Results.- Atmospheric Reanalyses and Climate Variations.- Constructing Climate Quality Atmospheric Temperatures from Satellite Microwave Measurements.- Total Ozone Observations During the Past 80 Years.- Climate Trends: Forcings and Processes.- Arctic Sea Ice Variability During the Last Half Century.- Decadal Changes in Surface Radiative Fluxes and Their Role in Global Climate Change.- Observed Interdecadal Changes in Cloudiness: Real or Spurious?.- The Role of Land-Atmosphere Interactions for Climate Variability in Europe.- Aerosol Effects on Precipitation Locally and Globally.- Climate Variability and Extremes.- Human Activity and Climate Change in Africa.- Impacts of Climate Variability, Trends and NAO on 20th Century European Plant Phenology.- Summer Heat Waves in Western Europe, Their Past Change and Future Projections.- Distribution Changes of Seasonal Mean Temperature in Observations and Climate Change Scenarios.- Chemical Changes and the Variability of the Stratosphere.- Long-term Tropospheric Ozone Trends: A Critical Review.- Simulation of Long-term Evolution of Stratospheric Dynamics and Chemistry: Role of Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings.- Dynamical Changes in the Arctic and Antarctic Stratosphere During Spring.- Creating Knowledge from the Confrontation of Observations and Models: The Case of Stratospheric Ozone.- Response of the Earth'sAtmosphere to the Solar Irradiance Variability.- Stratospheric Ozone Variations Caused by Solar Proton Events Between 1963 and 2005.- Sunspots, the QBO, and the Stratosphere in the North Polar Region: An Update.