This book updates the first edition for the status of knowledge in the physics of lake ice and the interactions between the ice cover and the liquid water underneath. Since the first edition was written in 2013, there has been a lot of progress in the field, in particular concerning environmental questions and the impact of climate change. Life conditions in ice-covered lakes and practical matters are now brought more into the picture so that the revision also properly serves as a handbook for applications. The author has worked widely with boreal lakes, polar lakes and Central Asian lakes that provides a wide geographical spectrum. Chapter 1 gives a brief overview and presents the research fields. The second chapter contains the classification of ice-covered lakes and observation techniques, especially remote sensing. In Chapter 3, the structure and properties of lake ice are presented including optics and geochemistry. Ice growth and melting are treated in Chapter 4, while the following chapter focuses on ice mechanics with applications to traffic on ice and ice loads. Chapter 6 goes into the exotic environment of pro-glacial lakes. Chapter 7 contains the stratification and circulation of the water body beneath lake ice, Chapter 8 presents the winter ecology of freezing lakes and discusses the lake ice interface toward the society, and Chapter 9 summarizes the climate change impact on lake ice seasons. The book ends into a brief closing chapter and list of references. Research problems for student learning are listed throughout the book. Annexes are included to provide numerical data of constants and standard formulae to help practical calculations and student tasks. Lake ice closely interacts with human living conditions, but people have learnt to live with that and to utilize the ice. In the present time this is true for on-ice traffic and recreation activities. Ice fishing has become a widely enjoyed hobby, and winter sports such as skiing, skating, and ice sailing are popular activities on frozen lakes. The lake ice response to eventual climate warming would appear as a shortening of the ice season due to the increasing air temperature and also as changing of the quality of the ice seasons via changes in ice thickness and structure. The book gives the whole story of lake ice into a single volume. The second, revised edition updates the content based on recent progress in winter limnology and ice physics research and applications. The author has contributed to lake ice research since the 1980s. In particular, his topics have been lake ice structure and thermodynamics, light transfer in ice and snow, ice mechanics in large lakes, and lake ice climatology. Mathematical modeling of ice growth, drift, and decay are covered in this research.

In this engrossing and accessible book, Doug Macdougall explores the causes and effects of ice ages that have gripped our planet throughout its history, from the earliest known glaciation—nearly three billion years ago—to the present. Following the development of scientific ideas about these dramatic events, Macdougall traces the lives of many of the brilliant and intriguing characters who have contributed to the evolving understanding of how ice ages come about. As it explains how the great Pleistocene Ice Age has shaped the earth's landscape and influenced the course of human evolution, Frozen Earth also provides a fascinating look at how science is done, how the excitement of discovery drives scientists to explore and investigate, and how timing and chance play a part in the acceptance of new scientific ideas. Macdougall describes the awesome power of cataclysmic floods that marked the melting of the glaciers of the Pleistocene Ice Age. He probes the chilling evidence for "Snowball Earth," an episode far back in the earth's past that may have seen our planet encased in ice from pole to pole. He discusses the accumulating evidence from deep-sea sediment cores, as well as ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic, that suggests fast-changing ice age climates may have directly impacted the evolution of our species and the course of human migration and civilization. Frozen Earth also chronicles how the concept of the ice age has gripped the imagination of scientists for almost two centuries. It offers an absorbing consideration of how current studies of Pleistocene climate may help us understand earth's future climate changes, including the question of when the next glacial interval will occur.

The McMurdo Dry Valleys form the largest relatively ice-free area on the Antarctic continent. The perennially ice-covered lakes, ephemeral streams and extensive areas of exposed soil are subject to low temperatures, limited precipitation and salt accumulation. The dry valleys thus represent a region where life approaches its environmental limits. This unique ecosystem has been studied for several decades as an analog to environments on other planets, particularly Mars. For the first time, the detailed terrestrial research of the dry valleys is brought together here, presented from an astrobiological perspective. Chapters include a discussion on the history of research in the valleys, a geological background of the valleys, setting them up as analogs for Mars, followed by chapters on the various sub-environments in the valleys such as lakes, glaciers and soils. Includes concluding chapters on biodiversity and other analog environments on Earth.

Vols. for 19 - include a separate section called GM; news and reviews.

Large lakes are important because of their size and ecological distinctiveness as well as their economic and cultural value. Optimal management of them requires a proper understanding of anthropogenic impacts both on the lake ecosystems as such and on the services they provide for society. The specific structural and functional properties of large lakes, e.g. morphology, hydrography, biogeochemical cycles and food-web structure, are all directly related to their size. Although large lakes are among the best-studied ecosystems in the world, the application to them of environmental regulations such as the European Water Framework Directive is a challenging task and requires that several natural and management aspects specific to these water bodies are adequately considered. These vulnerable ecosystems often suffer from accelerated eutrophication, over-fishing, toxic contamination and invasive species. Large lakes offer socio-economic benefits and can be used in many ways, and are often areas in which economic, cultural and political interests overlap. In this book the problems regarding the present status of European large lakes and the directions of change are discussed. Threats caused by direct human impact and by climate change, protection needs and restoration measures are considered.