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Book Review Plate Tectonics and Crustal Evolution by K. C. Condie, Pergamon Press, 1989.

This is a fairly successful synthesis of global geological, geochemical and geophysical data, organised around the theory of plate tectonics and pitched at the level of a senior undergraduate or graduate level textbook. The fact that this book is now in its 3rd edition says much for the appeal of this interdisciplinary approach in our attempt to gain a global perspective of this planet we inhabit. The reality of course is that most of us are specialists. I write as one whose specialisation is global geophysics and geodynamics, and while I definitely would not use this book to teach geophysics, there was much of value to me in the summaries of global geological and geochemical data. I would recommend it to graduate level students or researchers in geophysics precisely because it provides, in a fairly compact and readable summary, an overview of the global significance of the major geological and geochemical datasets. To attempt this global synthesis within one volume is an ambitious project and inevitably some topics are omitted while the coverage of others seems superficial. These disadvantages are offset by the advantage of the interdisciplinary perspective. The book is organised into 11 chapters dealing with: origin of the earth, mantle and core, crust, plate tectonics, tectonic settings, magma associations, orogenic systems, crustal provinces, origin and evolution of crust and mantle, and exogenic earth systems. Concluding each chapter is a page or two of summary statements and a short list (6 to 8 items) of recommended reading. Subjects are indexed and the literature is cited extensively throughout the book (with a 30 page bibliography of references current to about 1987). The book is accompanied by a useful fold-out global tectonic map (approx. scale 50,000,000: 1) showing the major tectonic features of the globe (trenches, ridges, transform faults, hotspots, rifts, volcanoes, orogenic belts and geological provinces). Apart from a very brief introductory chapter, the author does not attempt to provide the reader with the tools and background necessary to manipulate and interpret geophysical and geochemical data. The author's use of these datasets is essentially qualitative, although usually based on cited quantitative studies. Although one could usefully read this book without the necessary background, I doubt that one's understanding of geophysical concepts such as heat flow or gravity would be improved by the exercise. A consequence of organising the book around geological concepts is that the geophysical topics ultimately become fragmented into different chapters. For example, the subject of heat flow is introduced in

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Chapter 1, it finds application in Chapter 2 with regard to the thermal evolution of the planet, in Chapter 3 with regard to the temperature distribution in the plates, in Chapter 4 with regard to the age-dependence of heat flow, in Chapter 5 with "regard to the discussion of hotspots, and elsewhere. This is no doubt a reasonable approach when the author aims to present a global geological perspective, but it presupposes reasonable familiarity with the physical concepts and details of heat flow. Fundamental to the concept of heat flow in plate tectonics is the simple relation between diffusive length scale and the diffusive time scale. This relation leads directly to one of the great triumphs of plate tectonics, the prediction of sea-floor depth increasing proportional to (age) 1/2. While the result is certainly given in Chapter 4, the relatively simple background that is of such value in understanding the result is not provided. Surprisingly, the extension of this concept to the thermal subsidence of sedimentary basins does not rate a mention. I was disappointed by the references to gravity data. Within the time span of the 2nd edition of this book one of the major advances in global geophysics has been the acquisition of an accurate high resolution oceanic gravity field based on satellite altimeter data, supplemented by an ever increasing dataset of land-based measurements. Gravity and geoid fields are referred to in the book, although the above advance is not, and the global map provided is vintage 1972. It is stated that geoid highs .appear to reflect rising convection currents. Partially true, but in fact the major highs in the geoid field are associated with subduction zones. Other advances in geophysics such as the tomographic inversion of seismic travel-time data to reveal lateral heterogeneities within the earth and the correlation of these anomalies with the long wavelength geoid field fare much better. But on the other hand, the use of fault-plane solutions to determine and describe deformation at plate boundaries and within plates is barely acknowledged. One of the major advances in plate tectonics in the last decade is the general recognition that plate tectonics often does not work very well in the continents. Diffuse zones of crustal thickening, thinning or shear occur and much progress has been made in describing and explaining these regions. The author provides a very interesting chapter describing Phanerozoic orogenic systems, but concentrates on the recorded geological history rather than a discussion of physical mechanisms. Perhaps this is for the better if he finds it necessary to invoke buoyant subduction of continental crust in the India-Tibet collision. The book shows some signs of haste in its preparation. A seismic section across the Aleutian Trench is captioned as being from the Gulf of Mexico. Elsewhere we are told that the Cordilleran orogenic system extends from western Europe to South-east Asia. In summarising hotspots the author refers to 'geoid highs on the core-mantle boundary', which I presume is a confusion of two distinct concepts. Fortunately this sort of problem is relatively infrequent. Where multiple explanations for a given dataset have been advanced, the author goes to some trouble to discuss the alternative hypotheses. I wish he had been a bit

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more ruthless in discarding some of these hypotheses. The expanding earth hypothesis may be of interest in the historical context but this theory presently has no cause to be treated seriously and does not warrant even the single page given it here. The number of global phenomena that have at one time or another been explained by appealing to extraterrestrial impact is surprisingly large. The idea of nucleating the continents with granitic asteroids was new to me, but is it really worth propagating this unsupported idea in a textbook? This review has concentrated on the geophysical material in this book. This is perhaps unfair when most of the book is devoted to an exposition of geological and geochemical datasets. I am hardly in a position to find fault with these parts of the book. On the contrary, I found them to be a lively and readable survey of the subjects, I learned much and expect I will refer frequently to them in the future. On the one hand this book will not appeal to geophysicists because of the way it treats geophysics. On the other hand, it will appeal to anyone interested in global geophysics because of the accessible survey it provides of global geological and geochemical data, and it should be an essential element of any geophysical library. Gregory Houseman Monash University Department of Earth Sciences Clayton~ Melbourne Victoria 3168 Australia

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Book Review Volcanic Hazards. Assessment and Monitoring, ed. J. K. Latter, IAVCEI Proceedings in Volcanology, Vol. 1, Springer Verlag, 1989; DM178.00.

The papers collected in this book were presented at the International Volcanological Congress, held in New Zealand in February of 1986, mainly as part of the Symposium 1 on pyroclastic flow deposits and Symposium 4 on volcanic hazards. These papers cover many volcanic provinces of the world, particularly Italy, Japan, the West Indies, and the USA. Unfortunately, no contribution deals with volcanoes from Africa, the Atlantic islands (except Iceland), Central and South America (except Mexico), or Hawaii. The papers are arranged in the two sections Hazards Assessment and Monitoring. They are organized from the general to the specific, and, where possible, they are grouped by volcanic region. The Hazards Assessment section contains 14 papers. This section proposes that detailed studies of past periods of activity and repose of individual volcanoes may allow the approximate forecasting of the frequency and energy of future eruptive cycles. It also suggests that the largest volcanic eruptions may affect global climate to a degree comparable to that of "Nuclear Winters." These extremely large eruptions are accompanied by much longer periods of repose than eruptions of smaller magnitude. Hazards Assessment discusses volcanic hazards that are directly related to the emplacement of air-fall, surge and pyroclastic flow deposits, as well as lava flows, secondary explosions triggered by magmasurface water interaction, and explosions occurring in advancing lava flows. Also discussed are the indirect hazards that arise from the formation of debris avalanches, lahars, tsunami, and (!) false alarms. This section includes two papers on computer-assisted image processing and eruption simulation as a tool in defining volcanic hazards. The Monitoring section contains 21 papers arranged by monitoring methods. This section denotes how, despite the sizable number of different monitoring methods used, no one method has yet become a reasonable accurate forecasting tool. In fact, false alarms usually outnumber genuine precursory sequences. The ground-based monitoring methods described here use chemical variations in fumarolic gases and phreatic waters, microgravity and seismicity changes, infrasonic recording of explosions, and surveying ground deformation. Other sophisticated monitoring methods use space and airborne observations of eruption plumes and thermal anomalies. To date, the most widely used and successful method for predicting a volcanic eruption is the monitoring of changes in location, rate of

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occurrence and nature of earthquakes and harmonic tremors, combined with the study of ground deformation. Volcanic Hazards contributes to the definition of the impact of volcanic eruptions on the environment and manifests the need for a more extensive surveillance of active and dormant volcanoes. Although this book is only somewhat useful for advance research in volcanology, it is still appropriate for readers interested in a general overview of volcanic hazards and for authorities involved with practical aspects of public safety near active volcanoes. Andrea Borgia California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory MS 183-501 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109, U.S.A.

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Book Review Seamounts, Islands, and Atolls, eds. Barbara H. Keating, Patricia Fryer, Rodey Batiza, and George W. Boehlert, Geophysical Monograph Series, Vol. 43, AGU, Washington, DC, USA, 1987. This book contains twenty-six papers arising partly from a special session at the Fall 1985 AGU meeting. Editors dedicate the volume to the memory of H. W. Menard whose significant contribution to the study of seamounts, islands and atolls is universally acknowledged. Five sections and the introduction of the book include theoretical and experimental research articles and reviews covering a wide spectrum of the problems concerning origin and development of the numerous submarine and island volcanoes in the World Oceans and adjacent topics. The book begins with a review by E. A. Okal and R. Batiza of 25 years of history and progress of the hotspot hypothesis from a simple plume model to the modern ideas explaining complexity of observations: the hotspots are a part of the continuum process which contains upwelling blobs of various sizes, longevity and isotopic characteristics. Using about 10,000 km of Seabeam data, D. J. Fornari, R. Batiza and M. A. Luckman in the second paper endeavor to evaluate the sizes, abundance and distribution of seamounts near the East Pacific Rise. They found a highly nonuniform distribution of the small seamounts, clustering near the transform and fracture zones and overlapping spreading centers. Most of the small volcanoes are produced very close to the East Pacific Rise. The first section on "Morphological Studies" includes four research articles. In the first paper by M. McNutt and K. M. Fischer, depth and lithospheric thickness anomalies in French Polynesia are interpreted as a result of a broad mantle upwelling, similar to the classical Cretaceous Darwin Rise proposed by H. W. Menard. D. J. Fornari, R. Batiza and J. F. Allan established that small-size young volcanoes near the East Pacific Rise demonstrate irregular shapes and reflect strong influences of the geometry of primary conduits on the early stage of seamounts growth. Detailed side-scan sonar studies on the flanks of Johnston Atoll give reason to conclude that this atoll is in transition form from atoll to the drowned seamount, as follows from the third paper by B. H. Keating. The next paper by P. Fryer and G. J. Fryer describes the quite complete theory for the origin of the numerous nonvolcanic Mariana forearc seamounts by emplacement of diapiric bodies of serpentinized and chloritized rocks.

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The section on "Geophysical Studies" contains six research articles. Three of them demonstrate an application of the 3-D gravity modelling technique to the inference of seamounts density distributions, geological features and compensation states. N. Baudry and M. Diament report the successful prediction of the location of three formerly unsurveyed seamounts in the Austral archipelago, using a new method of SEASAT altimeter data analysis. In the fifth theoretical paper, M. McNutt presents a new algorithm to derive the thermal structure of the midplate swell with applications to the Hawaiian and Marquesian island chains. Paleomagnetic results of the inversion of magnetic anomalies over Musicians and South Hawaiian seamounts are described in the next paper by W. W. Sager and M. S. Pringle with estimations of seamounts ages, tectonic setting and two mean paleomagnetic poles for the Pacific plate at 80 and 87 Ma ages. The section on "Sedimentological Studies" includes three research articles. The first paper by S. O. Schlanger, J. F. Campbell and M. W. Jackson gives the interpretation of seismic profiles and rocks dredged from Harrie and Sylvania Guyots (Marshall Islands), indicating that both volcanic edifices are capped by drowned atolls of Early Eocene age. J. A. Haggerty in the next article brings the petrological and geochemical evidence for the diapiric origin of Neogene sedimentary rocks from Mariana forearc seamounts, being in clear accordance with the results-of P. Fryer and G. J. Fryer. Other papers (by L. A. Levin and C. A. Nittrouer) have dealings with textural characteristics of sediments on the deep volcanic seamounts in the East Pacific. The section on "Geochemical and Dating Studies" has six research papers. J. J. Mahoney, basing on the isotopic characteristics of available basement samples from the Pacific oceanic plateaus, concludes about their near-ridge hotspot origin. E. Wright describes two types of the Samoan ultramafic xenoliths and their relationship to the history of vertical movement of the parent mantle. J. W. Hawkins, P. F. Lonsdale and R. Batiza carried out a thorough, detailed analysis of petrology of rocks from the Louisville Seamount Chain and note the remarkably homogeneity during more than 60 m.y. mantle source for seamounts generation by hotspot. In addition, in another article, Q. Cheng et al. give the isotopic evidence for a hotspot origin of this chain. Considering petrology and chemistry of lavas from seamounts near the East Pacific Rise, J. F. Allan, R. Batiza and P. Lonsdale conclude that lavas from seamounts and spreading centers have a similar, probably common, source. G. V. Dalrymple, D. A. Claque, To L. Vallier and H. W. Menard publish new petrographic and geochemical data and age determinations from the collection of the Gulf of Alaska seamounts, showing that the majority of these seamounts was formed by midplate volcanism. The final section on "Oceanographic and Biological Studies" starts with a review by G. W. Boehlert and A. Genin on the physical oceanographic and biological effects of seamounts which are the sites of existence of unique ecosystems. In the second paper, G. I. Roden discusses the main aspects of effects of seamounts

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on oceanic flow and thermochaline structure. R. F. Wilson and R. S. Kaufman present a review of 1045 species of plants, invertebrates and fishes collected from more than 100 seamounts at depths from 29 to 3800 m. In the next paper, R. W. Grigg et al. study the relatively low diversity and abundance of the bentic biota on Cross seamount and conclude that environmental impacts produced by manganese crust mining operations in this region will be minimal. The last paper by J. Verhoef and B. J. CoUette was not included in a suitable geophysical section. (Why .9) The authors fulfill a complex geophysical (seismic, magnetic and gravity) and flexural rigidity study of the Atlantis-Meteor Seamount Complex and discuss the possible nonuniform lithospheric thinning under the seamounts by thermal rejuvenation. Finally, I would like to note, that this book is a quite representative collection of modern works and gives an expanding comprehension of the current status of geological, geophysical, geochemical and oceanographical investigations of submarine and island volcanoes. The level of the majority of articles is excellent. The book should be useful for anyone conducting sea-floor or marine research. Alexander Ivanenko Institute of Volcanology Far Eastern Branch of USSR Academy of Sciences 9 Piip ave Petropavlovsk-Kamtchatsky 683006 USSR

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Book Review Transient Waves in Layered Media by M. Tygel and P. Hubral, Methods in Geochemistry and Geophysics Serie, Vol. 26, Elsevier, 1987; Dfl.165.00.

The volume under review is basically a research monograph promulgating the viewpoint of the authors. It is not an essay on the subject as are KENNETT (1983) and HANYGA (1984) but is rather along the lines of CAGNIARD (1939, 1962) in that a technique, or a series of techniques, is proposed in order to solve a class of problems. We can do no better than quote the authors: '... much of the emphasis in this book is put on computing transient, broad-band responses with the help of transient analytic signals entirely in the time domain. Classical solutions, on the other hand, are usually formulated in the frequency domain and the resulting time harmonic responses are then numerically integrated with respect to frequency.' Somewhat earlier they state: 'Let us note that the infinite-range integrals appearing in classical solutions can only be approximately evaluated and may misrepresent the wavefield in certain spatial regions and at certain times. Moreover, the required numerical integration over frequency of the time-harmonic solutions can be the cause of aliasing problems..." To this end (as regards the first quotation), they carefully present an array of techniques which I found fascinating. For example, they consider the transient version of Weyl's well known integral solution of the wave equation. I strongly recommend study of this monograph for such items, for their own right as well as being of possible use in other physical disciplines. The second quotation raises serious questions such as: Why should an exact solution misrepresent the wavefield? The answer is obvious; the inversion numerics were done improperly! Since they deal almost exclusively with transient problems, it is much more efficient (at least in my opinion) to employ Laplace transform methods in time. Much of the difficulty of the method is in the inversion, however, the Dubner-Abate method and allied algorithms (see DAVIES and MARTIN (1979) for a critical review) offer numerically stable inversions and should become part of the geophysicist's tools in trade.

REFERENCES CAGNIARD, L., Reflexion et Rr~action des Ordres Seismiques Progressives (Gauthier-Villa~, Paris

1939). CAGNIARD,L., Reflection and Refraction of Progressive Seismic Waves (McGraw-Hill, New York 1962).

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DAVIES, B., and MARTIN, B. (1979), Numerical Inversion of the Laplace Transform: A Survey and Comparison of Methods, J. C. Phys. 33, 1-32. HANYGA,A., Seismic Wave Propagation in the Earth (Elsevier, Amsterdam 1984). See chapter 3. KENNETT,B., Seismic Wave Propagation in Stratified Media (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge 1983). Richard Barakat Division of Applied Sciences Harvard University Cambridge, M A 02138, U.S.A.

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Book Review

Sea Surface Studies. A Global View, ed. R. J. N. Devoy, Croom Helm Ltd., London, 1987, $95.00 (cloth). One of the most active and controversial areas of research in the geosciences today is that of sea-level change, its causes, its measurement, and its consequences both in the stratigraphic record and for humanity. Sea Surface Studies, an outgrowth of activities of the International Geological Correlation Programme's Project 200 on 'Sea-Level Correlations and Applications', is one of many recent contributions to this debate. The book is largely a review, directed at the nonspecialist as well as the expert, and with particular emphasis on sea-level change during Quaternary time. Individual chapters were written over a period of four years between 1983 and 1986. In contrast to other books on the same topic, most of the contributors to this one are from outside North America, two-thirds of them based in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The volume is divided into five sections, with introductory and concluding remarks by the editor, who wrote about 20 percent of the text overall. Part 1 concerns mechanisms of sea-level change, including discussions of ocean volume change and the history of sea water (J. Chappell), the effects of glacial and water loading (W. R. Peltier), the relation between glaciation and sea level (J. T. Andrews), and the influence of tectonic processes on the sea-level record (K. Berryman). Part 2 consists of two papers on dating techniques and correlation (D. G. Sutherland, I. Shennan). Part 3 is devoted mainly to reviews of specific regions (N.-A. M6rner, B. Pillans, R. J. N. Devoy, Y. Ota, D. Hopley). Part 4 focuses on coastal processes (J. Orford) and the societal implications of rising sea level (R. W. G. Carter, J. F. Titus). Part 5 considers some of the broader implications of sea-level change, such as its relation to the distribution of fossil fuels (R. J. N. Devoy), coastal placer deposits (D. G. Sutherland), and tidal and wave power (A. W. Lewis). The strength of the book is as a summary of the current state of knowledge concerning relative sea-level change during the past one to two million years, and especially during the last few thousand years. It will also be read with interest by those concerned about the ramifications of contemporary sea-level rise. Each chapter contains numerous references, and a useful index is provided at the end of the text. With respect to mechanisms and climatic feedbacks, however, Sea Surface Studies is largely superseded by "Sea-Level Change" (Studies in Geophysics, US National Academy of Sciences, 1990), and sedimentological and stratigraphic

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aspects of sea-level change are better covered in Special Publications 41 and 42 of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists (1987 and 1988), and in Memoir 15 of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (1988). In spite of an editorial caveat following the article by Mrrner, the concept of geoidal-eustasy appears in numerous places throughout Sea Surface Studies. I. Shennan, for example, echoes the view that 'the search for a universal eustatic curve must be regarded as over' owing to 'the general acceptance of the concept of geoidal-eustasy'. The problem of estimating eustasy in the absence of a suitable reference frame should not be underestimated, but not necessarily for this reason. The geoid, or equipotential surface of the earth's gravity field, contains irregularities as great as 180 m, and undoubtedly has varied in the past. However, on timescales of longer than 10,000 to 20,000 years, that is, time scales longer than the Holocene interval discussed by Shennan, geoidal changes affect not only the surface of the ocean but also the solid earth, and hence result in no net change in relative sea level. Overall, I recommend this book as a general reference for anyone concerned with the topic of sea-level change. At $95.00 only those of means will be able to afford the luxury of a copy on their personal bookshelf. Nicholas Christie-Blick Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory Palisades, NY 10964, U.S.A.

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Book Review

Physically-based Modelling and Simulation of Climate and Climatic Change, ed. M. E. Schlesinger, NATO ASI Series, Vol. 243, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989; Vol. I: Dfl.280.00, US $149.00, UK s Vol. II: Dfl.210.00, US $111.00, UK s This book is Volume 243 of NATO Advanced Science Institutes Series C concerning Mathematical and Physical Sciences. It consists of 26 chapters collected within two subvolumes. Twenty-four of them are based on the lectures prepared by international experts for the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Physically-Based Modelling and Simulation of Climate and Climatic Change which was held at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Italy during 11-23 May, 1986. These chapters are followed by discussions which took place after the lectures. These interesting exchanges of opinions and questions are often very impressive also to a reader not participating in the course. The remaining two chapters supplement the book. The book is divided into six parts. Part I deals with the development of physically-based models of the atmosphere. The introduction to climate system and atmospheric general circulation models is followed by the discussion of numerical methods used in large-scale problems, both finite differences and spectral approach. Physical processes presented in the following section include: radiative transfer, land surface processes, biosphere parameterizations, planetary boundary layer, cumulus convection, condensation and associated clouds. Part II concerns modelling the ocean general circulation and sea ice, two very important components of the earth-atmosphere climate system. Part IlI presents some problems connected with coupling atmosphere, ocean and ice models. Part IV discusses the use of simplified climate models, while Part V describes climate observation and diagnostics as well as the problems of validation of general circulation climate models. Some applications of climate models are found in_Part VI including paleoclimate modelling, ocean circulation in warm and cold climates, predictability of El Nifio and time-averaged atmospheric states and simulation of climate change due to increased atmospheric CO/. The last chapter involves the relationship between computer technology and climate modelling. Great efforts by researchers making use of increasing computational abilities resulted recently in an observable development of climate sciences. The book reflects this progress and presents the-state-of-art in climate modelling and climatic change investigation. Despite its 1084 pages it is yet too small to cover all the

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problems concerning such an extremely complicated system as climate but it can be recommended as a very good guide book in the modern climatology area. All papers contain long lists of references facilitating the search for more detailed information on a specific problem and can be used as starting points for further studies. Nevertheless a general introduction to dynamical systems analysis applied to climate and some comments on the fact that climate can or should be treated as a dynamical system would be a proper supplement to the book. Climate changes become one of the most important problems of our civilization and concern all mankind but despite the employment of all sophisticated tools such as the general circulation models our understanding of climatic systems remains very limited. The optimism, with respect to the future of this science, radiating from this book is very challenging to all people working in this area. The book is addressed to all scientists and students involved in climate investigation. Malgorzata Liszewska Long-range Forecasting Department Institute of Meteorology and Water Management 01-673 Warszawa, Podle~na 61 Poland

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Book review Understanding Climate Change, eds. A. Berger, R. E. Dickinson, and J. W. Kielsen, Geophysical Monograph 52, I U G G Vol. 7, Am. Geoph. Union IUGG, Washington DC, 1989. The book is a collection of 15 papers presented during I U G G Symposium. However, it is not clear when and where this Symposium took place. Probably it was so obvious to editors that they did not feel the necessity to inform readers of such details. The book delivers new proofs about climate conditions in the past, climate processes and causes. It is a unique and useful source of data and information for those engaged in reconstruction of climate. Climatologists will welcome a comprehensive text on the World Climate Research Program prepared by G. A. McBean which opens the book. Three main Streams of the Program are presented in concise and clear form. Also main activities and their interrelations are discussed. The paper provides a very useful, general insight into the issue and makes a very good introduction to interior parts of the book. The second part of the book is devoted to paleoclimates and ice. It consists of two papers, the first one, presented by 14 authors from France and USSR (C. Lorius et al.), deals with reconstruction of past climate conditions from the Vostok (East Antarctica) ice cores. Temperature, snow accumulation, aerosol loading and atmosphere CO2 concentration over the last climatic cycle were reconstructed. The results show that temperature and CO2 records are closely associated and their periodicity is connected with earth orbital parameters. The role of land ice in climate is presented by M. Kuhn in the second paper. He shows that about 30 mm of this century's sea-level rise is caused by melting mountain glaciers. The basic problem of glacier mass balance and feedback mechanisms, and the role of snow and ice in the hydrological cycle are also discussed. In the next section, estimates of volcanic volatile composition and mass release of sulfur, chlorine and fluorine to the atmosphere from twelve large recent and quaternary volcanic eruptions are presented by J. M. Palais and H. Sigurdsson. Large amounts of source data are of great interest for all who are involved in problems of chemical composition changes of the atmosphere in the past. The fourth section tackles the issue of biogeochemical cycles, land hydrology and land surface processes. B. Bolin et al. present results concerning uptake by the Atlantic Ocean of excess atmospheric carbon dioxide and radiocarbon. They conclude that the ocean and its carbonate system may not have been the only sink for antropogenic emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere.

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In the next paper the current state of knowledge of African climate variability and drought occurrence is presented by S. E. Nicholson. A review shows that little is known about actual causes of drought in Sahel and in the absence of comprehensive knowledge of drought-producing mechanisms over Africa it is not possible to forecast rainfall fluctuations. The crucial role of soil moisture and vegetation in the hydrological processes is discussed by Duzheng Ye through studies of climate models sensitivity. Discussion shows that inclusion of hydrology in GCM's improves weather forecasting. The climate-soil-vegetation interactions are investigated by P. S. Eagleson. It is stated that the tree/grass vegetation system is stable with respect to perturbation in the vegetation components but it is metastable with respect to climate change. Section five is devoted to the TOGA Program. In the first paper K. Trenberth presents a brief outline of this Program, focusing on the atmospheric component of E1 Nifio-Southem Oscillation (ENSO). It is concluded that accurate sea-surface temperature (SST) fields and understanding of SST changes are of the greatest importance for climate changes, and it is the central issue of the TOGA Program. The case study discussing oceanographic conditions in the Pacific during June 1987 is presented by D. Halpern. The fifth and last section deals with modeling of climate. Modeling of climate in the geological past is the topic of three papers. J. Gerard considers the consequence of a lower atmosphere ozone concentration and less developed stratosphere as a reason of stronger response of the pre-Cambrian atmosphere to solar cycle activity. Also E. J. Baron, by means of different climate models, tests Cretaceous climate. S. Joussanme et al. present GCM simulations of the Last Glacial maximum. They focus on a new approach to the problem with the modeling water isotopes and desert dust particles as important climatic tracers. Near the conclusion of the book we find one of the most interesting papers presented by P. R. Rowntree. It comprises a review of the present status of climate models as a tool in studies of climate changes. In a very clear and concise way many possible uses for GCM's are shown. Also, the last paper presented by M. E. Schlesinger is of great interest, mainly from a methodological point of view. Analysis of feedback, as a useful method of model comparison, is proposed. The difficult role of editors must be underlined. It was not an easy task to collect and group in logical order so many papers from such different branches. But they successfully fulfilled this task. The book is well produced, with a useful editorial introduction and it is remarkably free of misprints. Maciej Sadowski Institute of Meteorology and Water Management 01-673 Warszawa, 61 Podlesna str Poland

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Book Review Atmospheric Radiation--Theoretical Basis, by R. M. Goody and Y. L. Yung, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 1989; US $85.00. The growing interest in such topics as the greenhouse effect from one side and the increasing range of applications of various remote sensing techniques in atmospheric research from the other calls for a comprehensive presentation of behaviour of short-wave electromagnetic radiation in an atmospheric medium. The book under review, to a high degree, responds to this demand. The new edition of the classical monograph entitled Atmospheric Radiation-Theoretical Basis, by R. M. Goody (first published in 1964), modified now with the cooperation of Y. L. Yung, saved all advantages of its predecessor and added a considerable amount of new material, reflecting the development of atmospheric radiation science and its applications during the last 25 years. It is remarkable that this essential improvement has been achieved with a less than 20% increase of the books volume. The basic order of the first edition has mostly been preserved, but the text has been practically written anew, excepting the most classic parts, which were classic 25 years ago. The list of chapters: Introduction, theory of radiative transfer, vibration-rotation spectra of gaseous molecules, band models, absorption by atmospheric gases, radiation calculations in a clear atmosphere, extinction by molecules and droplets, radiative transfer in a scattering atmosphere, atmosphere in radiative equilibrum, evolution of a thermal disturbance; gives some insight into the present book content. The progress achieved in recent decades with the increasing power of computers has been reflected in the present edition, particularly by the new chapter 8 (radiative transfer in a scattering atmosphere) which is the result of symbiosis between transfer theory and numerical methods. The very important topic of remote sensing which is now a major discipline with an extensive relationship to many other fields is included as a new paragraph of the modified chapter 6 (6.5 The inverse problem for thermal radiation). For compensation some obsolete or presently less interesting parts of the first edition (e.g., certain old graphical or numerical techniques) have been deleted or reduced. A brief and clear presentation of the foundations of molecular spectroscopy as vibration-rotation spectra of gaseous molecules and band models is an important and useful aid for a reader not acquainted otherwise with this aspect of physics. References for each chapter are of course updated and (as in the first edition) often complemented with short comments or explanations concerning their content

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and relationship to the text of the present book. The number of Appendices is reduced from 14 to 9, but without essential loss to the informative value of the book. In my opinion the book is a highly recommendable acquisition for all libraries related to atmospheric sciences, including those which have the first edition. It is a useful handbook and reference for all students and scientists involved in atmospheric sciences. Krzysztof Haman Institute of Geophysics University of Warsaw Pasteura 7 02-093 Warszawa Poland