Greenhouse Effect, Sea Level and Drought

✍ Scribed by Michael R. Rampino, Robert Etkins (auth.), Roland Paepe, Rhodes W. Fairbridge, Saskia Jelgersma (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 710
• Series: NATO ASI Series 325
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Shortly after the creation of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Free University Brussels) in 1970, currently labelled as VUB, a Department of Quaternary Geology was installed within the Faculty of Science in 1974. At the beginning it dealt mainly with the study of periglacial loess deposits of the Pleistocene Glacial Period in Central Belgium and with coastal deposits in relation to sea level rise during the warm Holocene period covering the last 10,000 years, in which the dawn of civilization took place step by step. Today the same research teams widen their scope of interest: they are presently studying the loess plateau in the People's Republic of China and the world-wide problems associated with sea level rise, coastal erosion being one of the most devastating natural hazards. More and more emphasis is put on problems concerning environmental engineering and those dealing with global change. Since 1975 UNESCO sponsored a number of symposia of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA), whose secretariat was located on the VUB Campus grounds from 1973 to 1982. In 1981 the Applied Geology Department ofthe Faculty of Applied Sciences was created. The NATO-Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) , organized in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain) in March 1989 was a climax of this series of Global Change gatherings. As Rector of the VUB, I am satisfied that the VUB, through its Earth Technology Institute, of both USA and Belgium could cooperate with NATO and the National Science Foundations in cosponsoring such an initiative.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xix
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
The Greenhouse Effect, Stratospheric Ozone, Marine Productivity, and Global Hydrology: Feedbacks in the Global Climate System....Pages 3-20
Effects of West African Air Humidity on Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature....Pages 21-40
Determining Natural and Manmade Climate Change: Historical Review and Implications for the 1900’s and Beyond....Pages 41-74
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Climatic Response to Greenhouse and Feedback Effect....Pages 75-84
Ice Sheets and Sea Level Change as a Response to Climatic Change at the Astronomical Time Scale....Pages 85-107
Present, Past and Future Precipitation: Can We Trust the Models?....Pages 109-114
Front Matter....Pages 115-115
Sea Level....Pages 117-143
Non-Eustatic Sea Level Changes from Mediterranean Tide Gages....Pages 145-152
Present and Near-Future Sea-Level Changes: An Assessment....Pages 153-163
Influence of Global Climatic Processes on the Hydrosphere Regime....Pages 165-181
Front Matter....Pages 183-183
Water Deficiency Versus Water Excess: Global Management Potential....Pages 185-197
Extraterrestrial Impacts, Volcanoes, Climate and Sea Level....Pages 199-216
Recent Developments in Research on the Loess in China....Pages 217-224
Desertification or Desert Reclamation? Change in Climate or in Human Behaviour?....Pages 225-240
Natural Protection and Voluntary Extension of the Tropical African Forest Cover....Pages 241-252
River and Soils Cyclicities Interfering with Sea Level Changes....Pages 253-280
Natural Aridification or Man-Made Desertification? A Question for the Future....Pages 281-285
Climatic Oscillations as Registered through the Ruzizi Plain Deposits (North Lake Tanganyika) Zaire — Burundi — Rwanda....Pages 287-299
Global Change: Population, Land-Use and Vegetation in the Mediterranean Basin by the Mid-21st Century....Pages 301-367
An Indication of an Abrupt Climatic Change as Seen from the Rainfall Data of a Mauritanian Station....Pages 369-381
Front Matter....Pages 383-383
Practical Problems for Coastal Submergence in the Light of Secular Trends....Pages 385-393
Risk Assessment and Causes of Subsidence and Inundation along the Texas Gulf Coast....Pages 395-414
Vulnerability of Coastal Lowlands. A Case Study of Land Subsidence in Shanghai, P.R. China....Pages 415-426
The Impact of Neotectonics with Regard to Canals, Pipelines, Dams, Open Reservoirs, etc. in Active Areas: The Case of the Hellenic Arc....Pages 427-438
Evolution of Barrier Island-Lagoon Systems from 200 KA Ago to the Present in the Littoral Zone of Alicante (Spain). Impact of a Probable Sea Level Rise....Pages 439-446
Australia’s Hydrological Storage and Rising Sea Level Hazard....Pages 447-455
Front Matter....Pages 457-457
Possible Effects of Man on the Carbon Cycle in the Past and in the Future....Pages 459-462
The Relationship of Inqua to the Global Change Program and Other International Groups....Pages 463-481
Front Matter....Pages 483-483
Estimation of Natural and Man-Induced Groundwater Recharge....Pages 485-493
Development and Management of Fossil Groundwater Resources for Purposes of Drought Mitigation....Pages 495-512
Small Dams and Subsurface Dams in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas: The Example of Saharan and Sahelian Africa....Pages 513-522
Study of the Chad Basin Water Supply by Catchment Carried Out in the Congo-Zaire Basin....Pages 523-539
Groundwater Recharge and Storage By Damming a Small Ephemeral Stream....Pages 541-551
Sea Level Rise and Artificial Groundwater Recharge. A Study on the Feasibility of Geohydrologic Management....Pages 553-564
Climatic Changes in the Levant and the Possibility of their Mitigation....Pages 565-574
The Legacy of Sahelian Management: 1965–1988....Pages 575-592
Saline Groundwater in the Canary Islands (Spain) Resulting from Aridity....Pages 593-618
Front Matter....Pages 619-619
Geological Resources for Construction with Low Energy and Low Temperature Input....Pages 621-624
Site-Investigation in Semi-Arid and Arid Regions for Reconnaissance and Engineering-Geological Purposes....Pages 625-635
Possible Engineering Solutions and a Case Study....Pages 637-640
Front Matter....Pages 641-641
Conclusions and Recommendations Reports of Sessions and Panel Discussions....Pages 643-689
Meeting Report....Pages 691-706
Back Matter....Pages 707-718

✦ Subjects

Hydrogeology;Meteorology/Climatology;Geoengineering, Foundations, Hydraulics