The El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon does not operate on its own. It is a part of a much bigger world system linking the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Asian monsoon and the Pacific El Niño. Every few years this world climate system produces extreme weather events. We are now discovering that some of the severest of these El Niño related episodes took place during the Little Ice Age between about 1200 and 1900, especially in the period 1570-1740. This important new book brings together the latest historical and scientific studies of the El Niño and its dramatic effects on past and present civilisations. Archaeological and written records form the basis for historical analysis of the major effects of El Niño events on world history. These records are complemented by modern meteorological records and by studies of coral reefs, tree rings and fossils. Further chapters provide detailed descriptions of the local effects of the disastrous 1997-1998 El Niño in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and offer timely warnings of the likely effects of future climate changes on agriculture and public health.
2. El Niño chronology and the history of global crises during the Little Ice Age - Richard Grove and John Chappell
3. Massive corals: grand archives of ENSO - Michael K. Gagan and John Chappell
4. El Niño and the coral record of sea surface temperatures from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia - Malcolm McCulloch, Graham Mortimer, Chantal Alibert and John Marshall
5. Vegetation response to climate variability: a palaeoecological perspective on the ENSO phenomenon - Simon Haberle
6. What the instrumental and recent historical record tells us about the El Niño - Southern Oscillation - Neville Nicholls
7. Teleconnections of the El Niño phenomenon: public health and epidemiological prospects - Rosalie Woodruff and Charles Guest
8. The 1997-98 Papua New Guinea drought: perceptions of disaster - Bryant Allen
9.The other side of the island: ENSO-related drought and famine in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, 1997-1998 - Chris Ballard
10. Impact of the 1997 drought and frosts in Papua New Guinea - R. Michael Bourke
11. The Impact of the 1997-98 El Niño on Indonesia - James J. Fox
12. Agricultural productivity in India: the role of climate information in forecasting yields of foodgrains - Cezary A. Kapuscinski
13. El Niño and the Australian climate: the dendrochronological potential of Australian trees for dating climate extremes of drought, fire and flood - J.C.G. Banks
Bibliographical: ISBN 1 874267 42 1 (HB) £35.00; 250pp, 229mm x 155mm, March 2000
Readership: Tertiary and Postgraduate: History, Climate Studies
Orders: The White Horse Press, 1 Strond, Isle of Harris, HS5 3UD, UK. Payment by cheque drawn on a UK or US bank, bank draft or money order in Sterling or US dollars, or by VISA/Mastercard. Please add 10% postage worldwide (25% for airmail outside Europe).
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