Some 115 thousand years ago the world as we know it today
shifted into a much colder glacial mode which culminated
with huge ice sheets reaching as far south as New York,
Berlin and St. Petersburg. The numerical climate models,
used to predict the next century climate, were as yet unable
to explain what happened.
The reader of the book gains a detailed picture of what is
known on the most important episodes of the past climate
history, what to expect during the transition into a
glacial climate mode, and which aspects and elements of the
climate system seem mostsusceptible to change. The climate
modelers will realize that the long term history of natural
climate variations may hold important clues to the mechanism
of climate changes which should be taken in account if the
near future CO2 rich climate have to be predicted with any
degree ofreliability.