Now in paperback, this book has succeeded in its aim to introduce the global climate problem and the complex processes and interactions which play a part in climatic change to a wide range of scientists working in climatic research or the related fields of meteorology, oceanography, glaciology and hydrology. It is centred around the World Climate Research Programme, an international enterprise jointly sponsored by the scientific community (through the International Council of Scientific Unions) and the national weather centres (through the World Meteorological Organisation). If progress is to be made in understanding climatic change, it is necessary to observe and understand all components of the climate system and the interactions between them. This book is particularly relevant to many contemporary climatic problems and to the two most important questions arising tom them: to what extent can changes in climate be predicted; and what is the extent of man's influence on climate. The Global Climate answers these questions, showing how the important processes may be -observed, evaluated and modelled by computer.