Water From Heaven by Kandel, Robert -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Half title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Acknowledgments Prologue

Priming the Pump The States of Water Some Remarkable Properties Water’s Many Cycles

Part I: Water in the Universe from the Big Bang to the Appearance of Man

Chapter 1. Beginnings

From Hydrogen to Oxygen, and All the Rest Water in the Interstellar Medium

Chapter 2. The Churning of the Earth

Chapter 3. Origin and Evolution of Life

An Extraterrestrial Origin? Matter Living and Inert Where and When Did Life Appear? Life Without the Sun at the Bottom of the Sea The Invention of Photosynthesis and the Conquest of Dry Land

Chapter 4. Catastrophes

Climbing Up an Evolutionary Ladder? Mass Extinctions The Demise of the Dinosaurs Deadly Impact Man the Exterminator

Chapter 5. Ice, Moon, and Planets

The Moon, Time, and Tide The Precession of the Equinoxes The Moon and Milankovitch Ice On the Move Ice in the Tropics

Part II: Water in Today’s World

Chapter 6. Water and Energy Cycles

Ice Budgets Water Budgets: Clouds, Rain, and Snow Water Budgets: Evaporation, Condensation, and Latent Heat Energy Budgets and the Greenhouse Effect Latitudes and Seasons Land and Sea

Chapter 7. Winds, Waves, and Currents

The Tropical Furnace and the Hadley Circulation East Winds, West Winds, and the Gyrations of the Oceans Land and Sea: Monsoons East-West: El Niño, La Niña, and the Pacific Basin North-South: the Atlantic

Chapter 8. Water’s Deep Memories

The Salt of the Sea The Great Conveyor Belt Foreseeable Accidents, or Surprises?

Chapter 9. Clouds, Rain, and Angry Skies

Making Rain Stability or Instability? From Fair-Weather Cumulus to Cumulonimbus: Convection and Precipitation Cyclones and Convective Cloud Systems Tornadoes Tropical Cyclones: Hurricanes and Typhoons Gently Falling Snow and Rain Acid Rain

Chapter 10. Earth’s Water, between Sky and Sea

Watersheds and Water Flows Vegetation, Evapotranspiration, and the Soil Infiltration and Underground Water Runoff: From Rills to Rivers Along the Great Rivers Water On the Continental Scale

Part III: Water in Human History, Past and Future

Chapter 11. Water and Man’s Rise to Civilization

Out of the Ice Age The Nile Water’s Revenge Drinking Water for the Cities Clean But Toxic Water Water Down the Drain Water for Food Land for Food? Mosquitoes and Disease Water for Industry Water Business Nuclear Power and Water

Chapter 12. Problems for the 21st Century

A New Millennium? The Water Resource Satisfaction of Water Needs Water Management: Cooperation or Conflict? Water Between Israel and the Arabs

Chapter 13. Butterflies and Humans in A Warming Greenhouse

The Butterfly Effect The Greenhouse Effect Global Warming? The Real Risks A New Deal in Water

Chapter 14. Back to the Ice Age

The End of the Pleistocene? From the Twentieth to the 21st Century Finite and Infinite Resources Avoidable Catastrophe

Chapter 15. Conclusion—The End of the Story?

Back to the Beginning?

Notes Bibliography Index