Climatic Change and Variability in Southern Africa

(Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1986) 0195704304. 4to; original blue boards, lettered in gilt on spine; laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pp. ix + (iii) + 220, incl. index; profusely illustrated with diagrams and maps. Dustwrapper very slightly rubbed; earlier owner's name signed on pastedown. Near fine condition. "Although a great deal is known about the extent and the atmospheric modulation of climatic change over long periods and the variability of climates over shorter periods of time in the northern hemisphere, less is known of southern hemisphere conditions, particularly in subtropical regions where the occurrence of droughts is endemic. Subtropical atmospheric circulations provide the coupling between the circulation of tropical and temperate latitudes and control the climatic variability of vast semi-arid areas of the earth affected by the semi-permanent high pressure cells of the general atmospheric circulation. The extent to which southern Africa's predominantly subtropical climate has responded differentially to both tropical and temperate variations in atmospheric circulation during the present century and in earlier times provides the focus of CLIMATIC CHANGE AND VARIABILITY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA." .