A summary of the work of Russian scientists on the effects of human activities on climate patterns which produced one of the first predictions of impending climatic change and which forms an integral link in the efforts of scientists worldwide to assess global warming trends.

Research conducted by Soviet scientists on the effects of human activities on climate patterns began in 1961 and by 1972 was responsible for one of the first predictions of impending climatic change; today it forms an integral link in the efforts of scientists worldwide to assess the global warming trend known as the greenhouse effect. Although some material reflecting Soviet research in anthropogenic climate change has previously appeared in English, this volume marks the first work to summarize the work of the USSR State Committee for Hydrometerology and Control of Natural Environment and the USSR Academy of Sciences, and includes results of research conducted in the 1980s. Drawing on paleoclimatic and historical data, the authors present a case for the effect on climate of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other trace gases. Successive chapters deal with energy consumption, the carbon cycle, the role of biota in the latter, contributions of trace gases to the greenhouse effect, climate sensitivity to variations in atmospheric gas composition, projections of future climatic conditions, and projected impacts on crop productivity. A final chapter evaluates the likelihood of accuracy for the forecasted estimates of climatic change. While acknowledging that many uncertainties plague attempts at climate prediction, the authors emphasize that the potential effects of climate change are too serious to be ignored.