Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 18 Jan 2019).

Earth's climate system -- Climate analysis : goals and methods -- Climate analysis : atmospheric instruments, observations, and datasets -- Climate variability -- Climate change -- Temperature : building climate datasets -- Precipitation : combining in-situ and remotely-sensed observations in constructing climate datasets -- Ocean climate datasets -- Cryosphere -- Land component of the climate system -- Climate models as information sources and analysis tools -- Operational climate monitoring and prediction.

Sensational images and stories about variations in Earth's climate and their impacts on society are pervasive in the media. The scientific basis for these stories is often not understood by the general public, nor even by those with a scientific background in fields other than climate science. This book is a comprehensive resource that will enable the reader to understand and appreciate the significance of the flood of climate information. It is an excellent non-mathematical resource for learning the fundamentals of climate analysis, as well as a reference for non-climate experts that need to use climate information and data. The focus is on the basics of the climate system, how climate is observed and how the observations are transformed into datasets useful for monitoring the climate. Each chapter contains Discussion Questions. This is an invaluable textbook on climate analysis for advanced students, and a reference textbook for researchers and practitioners.