Exploring Planetary Climate A History of Scientific Discovery on Earth, Mars, Venus and Titan

This book chronicles the history of climate science and planetary exploration, focusing on our ever-expanding knowledge of Earth's climate, and the parallel research underway on some of our nearest neighbours: Mars, Venus and Titan. From early telescopic observation of clouds and ice caps on planetary bodies in the seventeenth century, to the dawn of the space age and the first robotic planetary explorers, the book presents a comprehensive chronological overview of planetary climate research, right up to the dramatic recent developments in detecting and characterising exoplanets. Meanwhile, the book also documents the discoveries about our own climate on Earth, not only about how it works today, but also how profoundly different it has been in the past. Highly topical and written in an accessible and engaging narrative style, this book provides invaluable historical context for students, researchers, professional scientists, and those with a general interest in planetary climate research.

Foreword by Ellen Stofan; Preface; 1. The age of wonder: learning the Earth, oceans and sky; 2. Planets and greenhouses; 3. Age of calculation; 4. Feeling the heat; 5. First contact; 6. The ice returns; 7. Mars attracts; 8. A new millennium; 9. Dune worlds; 10. Looking ahead; 11. Worlds beyond; 12. Conclusions; Glossary; Further reading; Bibliography; Index.

Ralph D. Lorenz is a Planetary Scientist at The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He has worked for the European Space Agency on the Huygens probe to Titan, and has been involved in many NASA and international space projects, including Cassini, Mars Polar Lander and the Japanese Venus Climate Orbiter. He enjoys visiting exotic locations on Earth - from the Arabian Desert and Alaska to Vanuatu and New Zealand - to learn about process on other worlds, notably dust devils, sand dunes and volcanoes.