This book promotes a better understanding of the role of the sun on natural climate variability. It is a comprehensive reference book that appeals to an academic audience at the graduate, post-graduate and PhD level and can be used for lectures in climatology, environmental studies and geography.
This work is the collection of lecture notes as well as synthesized analyses of published papers on the described subjects. It comprises 18 chapters and is divided into three parts: Part I discusses general circulation, climate variability, stratosphere-troposphere coupling and various teleconnections. Part II mainly explores the area of different solar influences on climate. It also discusses various oceanic features and describes ocean-atmosphere coupling. But, without prior knowledge of other important influences on the earth¿s climate, the understanding of the actual role of the sun remains incomplete. Hence, Part III covers burning issues such as greenhouse gas warming, volcanic influences, ozone depletion in the stratosphere, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice, etc. At the end of the book, there are few questions and exercises for students. This book is based on the lecture series that was delivered at the University of Oulu, Finland as part of M.Sc./ PhD module.

Dr Indrani Roy is a climate scientist and undertook her PhD at Imperial College, London, within the Space and Atmospheric Research Group. Since receiving her PhD, she has worked in various research organisations including Imperial College and the University of Exeter, and has also previously worked for the Indian Meteorological Department. She is a Fellow of Royal Meteorological Society (FRMetS), Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) and Associate Fellow of Higher Education Academy (HEA). She is a reviewer for numerous international journals including Nature Geoscience, Nature Scientific Report, Frontiers, Tellus and Climate Dynamics among others.

Acknowledgement.- Introduction.- Chapter 1: Climatology, General Circulation, Climate Variability, Stratosphere Troposphere Coupling.- 1.1 Climatology and General Circulation.- 1.2 Major Modes of Climate Variability.- 1.3 Stratosphere-Troposphere Coupling.- 1.4 Teleconnection among various modes.- 1.5 Solar Influence around Various Places: Robust Solar Signal on Climate.- 1.6 Total Solar Irradiance (TSI): Measurements and Reconstructions.- Chapter 2: Various Solar Influences on Climate and Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling.- 2.1 Ocean Coupling.- 2.2 Sun and ENSO connection: Contradiction and Reconciliation.- 2.3 A debate: Sun and QBO.- 2.4 Solar Influence: `Top Down¿ vs. `Bottom Up¿.- 2.5 An Overview of Solar Influence on Climate.- Chapter 3: Other Major Influences on Climate.- 3.1 Sun: Atmosphere-Ocean Coupling- Possible Limitations.- 3.2 Arctic and Antarctic Sea ice.- 3.3 CMIP5 Project and Some Results.- 3.4 Green House Gas warming.- 3.5 Volcanic Influences.- 3.6 Ozone depletion in Stratosphere.- 3.7 Influence of various other Solar Outputs.