Review: Now that global warming is on a far firmer footing in terms of acceptance we are seeing a raft of publications being produced which deal with ever more specific areas and which enhance our understanding of this complex process. Chief amongst the publishers is the IPCC. The aim of this particular text is to describe the connections between ozone depletion and global warming. Some might find this ironic given that so many school texts seemed to confuse ozone depletion with global warming when we spent time separating the two. Now it seems our work needs revision once again as the inter-connectedness of upper atmospheric processes is made clearer.

To make the process of understanding easier we start with two summaries. Essentially covering the same material they differ in that the first one is focussed at policymakers (and general readers) whilst the second is a technical summary. The difference between the two is in itself quite instructive. The policymaker version focusses on a number of key questions set out in point form in mini-'chapters'. The technical summary uses the same coding system but continues beyond that numbering to deal with more specific matters such as details of gases involved, discussions of various policy options etc. Ideally it should be possible to start with the first as a scene-setter and then move on to more complex issues. From these two the reader is lead to the main report. It too follows the numbering system seen in the two summaries but, as one would expect, goes into the most detail. We start with a review of the links between ozone and climate alteration. This is followed by a discussion of the main halocarbons and their effects. Chapter 3 takes a different perspective by arguing that unless the parameters of the research methods are known we cannot be fully sure of the relative impacts of the gases. This might not be so critical if the range of choices were limited but the expansion of research into new chemicals demonstrates the need for a carefully evaluated method of analysis. The next seven chapters look, in turn, at one specific gas-use area. The aim is to be able to review each part of the issue from refrigeration to aerosols and solvents. For each chapter there's an evaluation of current and future options. A final chapter looks at the potential rates of growth of the various halocarbons.

This is a text for the more advanced reader. As with most of the UN-oriented publications, the summary is a very good introduction. In this case we have two which together should provide enough data for the more demanding case. For those in undergraduate and graduate study, the body of the report acts as a very good overview of this topic.