Covering around 70 per cent of our planet's surface and home to more than 200,000 known species, the world's oceans are vital to life on Earth. However, despite producing around half the world's oxygen and helping to regulate our climate and weather patterns, human behaviour has put our incredible oceans and the amazing animals within them at risk. In The Big Book of the Ocean, we go beneath the surface to explore the fascinating secrets of the sea and take an in-depth look at some of the planet's magnificent marine creatures, from killer whales and sea turtles to seahorses and starfish. We also explore what we can do to help protect these vital environments and discover ten of the most endangered ocean species.

'This book, with its extensive bibliography, is a good, solid introduction to the new world of AUVs.' - International Ocean Systems

In 1972, James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis began collaborating on the Gaia hypothesis. They suggested that over geological time, life on Earth has had a major role in both producing and regulating its own environment. Gaia is now an ecological and environmental worldview underpinning vital scientific and cultural debates over environmental issues. Their ideas have transformed the Earth and life sciences, as well as contemporary conceptions of nature. Their correspondence describes these crucial developments from the inside, showing how their partnership proved decisive for the development of the Gaia hypothesis. Clarke and Dutreuil provide historical background and explain the concepts and references introduced throughout the Lovelock-Margulis correspondence, while highlighting the major landmarks of their collaboration within the sequence of almost 300 letters written between 1970 and 2007. This book will be of interest to researchers in ecology, history of science, environmental history and climate change, and cultural science studies.

Marine environmental conditions such as storms, storm surges and wave heights are directly experienced by, for example, off-shore operations or coastal populations. The authors review and bring together the state-of-the-art and present day knowledge about historical changes, recent trends and concepts on how marine environmental conditions may change in the future as well as discuss models and data problems.

From prehistoric times to the present, the Ocean has been used as a highway for trade, a source of food and resources, and a space for recreation and military conquest, as well as an inspiration for religion, culture, and the arts. The Ocean Reader charts humans' relationship to the Ocean, which has often been seen as a changeless space without a history. It collects familiar, forgotten, and previously unpublished texts from all corners of the world. Spanning antiquity to the present, the volume's selections cover myriad topics including the slave trade, explorers from China and the Middle East, shipwrecks and castaways, Caribbean and Somali pirates, battles and U-boats, narratives of the Ocean's origins, and the devastating effects of climate change. Containing gems of maritime writing ranging from myth, memoir, poetry, and scientific research to journalism, song lyrics, and scholarly writing, The Ocean Reader is the essential guide for all those wanting to understand the complex and long history of the Ocean that covers over 70 percent of the planet.

The deep ocean is by far the planet's largest biome and holds a wealth of potential natural assets. Human exploitation of the deep ocean is rapidly increasing whilst becoming more visible to many through the popular media, particularly film and television. The scientific literature of deep-sea exploitation and its effects has also rapidly expanded as a direct function of this increased national and global interest in exploitation of deep-sea resources, both biological (e.g. fisheries, genetic resources) and non-biological (e.g. minerals, oil, gas, methane hydrate). At the same time there is a growing interest in deep-sea contamination (including plastics), with many such studies featured in high profile scientific journals and covered by global media outlets. However, there is currently no comprehensive integration of this information in any form and these topics are only superficially covered in classic textbooks on deep-sea biology. This concise and accessible work provides an understanding of the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, both at the seafloor and in the water column, and how these might be affected as a result of human interaction, exploitation and, ultimately, environmental change. It follows a logical progression from geological and physical processes, ecology, biology, and biogeography, to exploitation, management, and conservation. Natural Capital and Exploitation of the Deep Ocean is aimed at marine biologists and ecologists, oceanographers, fisheries scientists and managers, fish biologists, environmental scientists, and conservation biologists. It will also be of relevance and use to a multi-disciplinary audience of fish and wildlife agencies, NGOs, and government departments involved in deep-sea conservation and management.

The seventy-fifth anniversary edition of the classic book about Cape Cod, "written with simplicity, sympathy, and beauty" ("New York Herald Tribune")
A chronicle of a solitary year spent on a Cape Cod beach, " The Outermost House" has long been recognized as a classic of American nature writing. Henry Beston had originally planned to spend just two weeks in his seaside home, but was so possessed by the mysterious beauty of his surroundings that he found he "could not go."
Instead, he sat down to try and capture in words the wonders of the magical landscape he found himself in thrall to: the migrations of seabirds, the rhythms of the tide, the windblown dunes, and the scatter of stars in the changing summer sky. Beston argued that, "The world today is sick to its thin blood for the lack of elemental things, for fire before the hands, for water, for air, for the dear earth itself underfoot." Seventy-five years after they were first published, Beston's words are more true than ever.

The Great Barrier Reef is located along the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia and is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. Designated a World Heritage Area, it has been subject to increasing pressures from tourism, fishing, pollution and climate change, and is now protected as a marine park. This book provides an original account of the environmental history of the Great Barrier Reef, based on extensive archival and oral history research. It documents and explains the main human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef since European settlement in the region, focusing particularly on the century from 1860 to 1960 which has not previously been fully documented, yet which was a period of unprecedented exploitation of the ecosystem and its resources. The book describes the main changes in coral reefs, islands and marine wildlife that resulted from those impacts. In more recent decades, human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef have spread, accelerated and intensified, with implications for current management and conservation practices. There is now better scientific understanding of the threats faced by the ecosystem. Yet these modern challenges occur against a background of historical levels of exploitation that is little-known, and that has reduced the ecosystem's resilience. The author provides a compelling narrative of how one of the world's most iconic and vulnerable ecosystems has been exploited and degraded, but also how some early conservation practices emerged.

This volume contains the ten most cited articles that have appeared in the journal Atmosphere-Ocean since 1995. These articles cover a wide range of topics in meteorology, climatology and oceanography. Modelling work is represented in five papers, covering global climate model development; a cumulus parameterization scheme for global climate models; development of a regional forecast modelling system and parameterization of peatland hydraulic processes for climate models. Data rehabilitation and compilation in order to support trend analysis work on comprehensive precipitation and temperature data sets is presented in four papers. Field studies are represented by a paper on the circumpolar lead system. While the modelling studies are global in their application and applicability, the data analysis and field study papers cover environments that are specifically, but not uniquely, Canadian. This book will be of interest to researchers, students and professionals in the various sub-fields of meteorology, oceanography and climate science.

This current book provides up-to-date research on the management, assessment and current challenges of coastal zones. Chapter One reviews the Coastal Area Management Programme (CAMP) of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP). Chapter Two introduces atypical example accounting for a comparative analysis between wetlands in Lebanon with different hydrology and aquifer characteristics. Chapter Three emphasizes a need for more careful monitoring of mosquito vector abundance and disease transmission in coastal zones and incorporating recent findings into coastal planning and management programs. Chapter Four aims to account for procedures taken by coastal, insular, and archipelagic states when claiming the extension of its oceanic limits.

This book discusses ecological perspectives, biodiversity and management of the Baltic and Black Seas. Chapter One reviews the role of the Russian section of the Gulf of Finland and its basin in the ecosystems of the Baltic Sea. Chapter Two studies spatio-temporal dynamics of ichthyoplankton biodiversity in different biotopes of the Baltic Sea. Chapter Three explores the abnormalities in the amphids of free-living nematodes in the Black Sea. Chapter Four discusses the role of defense systems to the adaptation to ecological conditions in the Black Sea ecosystem.

The resolution of the sixty-year debate over continental drift, culminating in the triumph of plate tectonics, changed the very fabric of Earth science. This four-volume treatise on the continental drift controversy is the first complete history of the origin, debate and gradual acceptance of this revolutionary theory. Based on extensive interviews, archival papers and original works, Frankel weaves together the lives and work of the scientists involved, producing an accessible narrative for scientists and non-scientists alike. This third volume describes the expansion of the land-based paleomagnetic case for drifting continents and recounts the golden age of marine geology and geophysics. Fuelled by the Cold War, US and British workers led the way in making discoveries and forming new hypotheses, especially about the origin of oceanic ridges. When first proposed, seafloor spreading was just one of several competing hypotheses about the evolution of ocean basins.

Over the last two decades there has been increasing recognition that problems in oceanography and fisheries sciences and related marine areas are nearly all manifest in the spatio-temporal domain. Geographical Information Systems (GIS), the natural framework for spatial data handling, are being recognized as powerful tools with useful applications in marine sciences. Geographic Information Systems in Oceanography and Fisheries provides a thorough examination of marine GIS applications that include a wide variety of methods and sophisticated approaches in coastal, continental shelf, and deep ocean studies. It presents new innovative approaches of using GIS in the examination of the dynamic relations that characterize the marine world, including marine GIS macro routines for the development of oceanography and fisheries GIS tools and applications. This book is divided into four parts. The first gives an overview of marine GIS, including conceptual issues on marine spatial thinking and models of marine GIS development. The second and third parts examine the main sampling methods and online sources of spatially referenced data, and discuss application examples and innovative approaches in GIS developments for many oceanographic and fisheries tasks. The fourth part presents GIS technical issues by listing marine GIS routines for a wide array of GIS tasks. Anyone with interests in marine GIS development, physical and biological oceanography, fisheries and information based proposals for ocean and fisheries resource management will find this book useful.

Heavy metals, algae, and microbial activities in marine systems are the main targets of this book. The book is divided into 8 sections and covers heavy metal assessment, bio-monitoring of organic pollutants, pollutant removal, biota, biological activity, algae, energy, and global systems and greenhouse environments.

Salt marshes are highly dynamic and important ecosystems that dampen impacts of coastal storms and are an integral part of tidal wetland systems, which sequester half of all global marine carbon. They are now being threatened due to sea-level rise, decreased sediment influx, and human encroachment. This book provides a comprehensive review of the latest salt marsh science, investigating their functions and how they are responding to stresses through formation of salt pannes and pools, headward erosion of tidal creeks, marsh-edge erosion, ice-fracturing, and ice-rafted sedimentation. Written by experts in marsh ecology, coastal geomorphology, wetland biology, estuarine hydrodynamics, and coastal sedimentation, it provides a multidisciplinary summary of recent advancements in our knowledge of salt marshes. The future of wetlands and potential deterioration of salt marshes is also considered, providing a go-to reference for graduate students and researchers studying these coastal systems, as well as marsh managers and restoration scientists.

Ocean acidification is the process whereby seawater becomes less alkaline (or more acidic). It is a concern to Congress because of the potential harm ocean acidification may cause to marine resources, and resource dependent industries and communities. The chemistry of the Earth's oceans is changing as increasing amounts of anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves into the water. The intent of this book is to guide research and monitoring investments that will improve our understanding of ocean acidification and its potential impacts on marine species and ecosystems. It will further the development of adaptation and mitigation strategies to conserve marine organisms and the resources and services provided by the ecosystems in which they live.

In this stunning book, nature photographer and ecologist David Blevins offers an inspiring visual journey to North Carolina's barrier islands as you have never seen them before. These islands are unique and ever-changing places with epic origins, surprising plants and animals, and an uncertain future. From snow geese mid-flight to breathtaking vistas along otherworldly dunes, Blevins has captured the incredible natural diversity of North Carolina's coast in singular detail. His photographs and words reveal the natural character of these islands, the forces that shape them, and the sense of wonder they inspire. Featuring over 150 full-color images from Currituck Banks, the Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores, and the islands of the southern coast, North Carolina's Barrier Islands is not only a collection of beautiful images of landscapes, plants, and animals, but also an appeal for their conservation.

Approximately 70% of the surface of Earth is the bottom of the seafloor and about 80% of the seafloor is the deep seafloor (at deeper than 200m below the sea-surface). This book discusses the deep sea. It provides topics on the biodiversity, human dimension and ecological significance of the deep sea, including the metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis discoveries; the biodiversity and life-history strategies of deep sea megafauna in the Mediterranean Sea; and prokaryotes in metal deposits on the deep seafloor.

Now in its fully updated fourth edition, this leading text in its field is an exhaustive monograph on turbulence in fluids in its theoretical and applied aspects. The authors examine a number of advanced developments using mathematical spectral methods, direct-numerical simulations, and large-eddy simulations. The book remains a hugely important contribution to the literature on a topic of great importance for engineering and environmental applications, and presents a very detailed presentation of the field.

This open access book introduces the major environmental green development issues from six major themes carbon neutrality, nature-based solution, watershed management and climate adaptation, BRI green development, sustainable food supply chain, ecosystem-based integrated ocean management focusing on the progress of China’s environment and development policies from 2021 accomplishments. It is based on the research outputs of CCICED in the year of 2021, which marks China’s start point of implementation of its 14th Five-Year Plan when world economy also strived to recover from the pandemic.  

This indispensable handbook provides state-of-the-art information and common sense guidelines, covering the design, construction, modernization of port and harbor related marine structures. The design procedures and guidelines address the complex problems and illustrate factors that should be considered and included in appropriate design scenarios.

The third edition of this bestselling text has been rigorously updated to reflect major new discoveries and concepts since 2011, especially progress due to extensive application of high-throughput sequencing, single cell genomics and analysis of large datasets. Significant advances in understanding the diversity and evolution of bacteria, archaea, fungi, protists, and viruses are discussed and their importance in marine processes is explored in detail. Now in full colour throughout, all chapters have been significantly expanded, with many new diagrams, illustrations and boxes to aid students' interest and understanding. Novel pedagogy is designed to encourage students to explore current high-profile research topics. Examples include the impacts of rising CO2 levels on microbial community structure and ocean processes, interactions of microbes with plastic pollution, symbiotic interactions, and emerging diseases of marine life. This is the only textbook addressing such a broad range of topics in the specific area of marine microbiology, now a core topic within broader Marine Science degrees. A Companion Website provides additional online resources for instructors and students, including a summary of key concepts and terminology for each chapter, links to further resources, and flashcards to aid self-assessment.

Written by Chris Maser, one of the architects of the sustainability movement, Interactions of Land, Ocean and Humans: A Global Perspective explores a critical number of the myriad aspects that comprise the great, reciprocal feedback loops between the mountain peaks, the deep sea, and everywhere in between. Maser's exploration of these connections gives us the tools required to open our imaginations and our scientific literacy, offering insights into the relationships between the land, sea, and people that could influence us toward better decisions. The author examines the hydrological cycle, hydrological continuum, and anthropogenic pollution of various kinds from the atmosphere to deep belowground. He also highlights connections by detailing how human behavior changes the atmosphere, which changes the oceans, which alters the climate, which alters the atmosphere and thus the ocean, and so on. The book then explores the biophysical commonalities between landscapes and seascapes, as well as the habitats, in each realm. It covers marine fisheries; marine protected areas; oceans as a commodity, as part of the global commons, as a biophysical living trust for which we are the trustees and the children of today and beyond are the beneficiaries; and more. Can we arrest this deleterious process? Yes, but it will take a dramatic shift in human behavior worldwide. Why? Because, just as the collective human behavior and lack of awareness caused the problems in the first place, the level of consciousness that caused the problem is not the level of consciousness that can fix it. We must shift our thinking from that which is symptomatic to that which is systemic if we are to have a sustainably productive environment through time. Maser gives us the understanding of the biophysical interactions among the lands, oceans, and peoples of the world needed to create sustainable solutions to environmental problems.

In this book, the authors present current research in the study of the geochemistry, composition and environmental impacts of seawater. Topics discussed include the impact of internal wave breaking on the ocean upper layer formation; trace elements in seawater in offshore oil production platform areas; self-purification of seawater; the Salton Sea megaport and seawater canal; and assessing the effect of nearshore currents over the SO2 absorption in Caribbean seawater.

Lynne Cox has set open water swimming records across the world, and now she has focused her decades-long experience and expertise into this definitive guide to swimming. Cox methodically addresses what is needed to succeed at and enjoy open water swimming, including choosing the right bathing suit and sunscreen; surviving in dangerous weather conditions, currents, and waves; confronting various marine organisms; treating ailments, such as being stung or bitten, and much more. Cox calls upon Navy SEAL training materials and instructors' knowledge of open water swimming and safety procedures to guide her research. In addition, first-hand anecdotes from SEAL specialists and stories of Cox's own experiences serve as both warnings and proper practices to adopt.
"Open Water Swimming Manual" provides a wealth of knowledge for all swimmers, from seasoned triathletes and expert swimmers to beginners exploring open water swimming for the first time. It is, as well, the first manual of its kind to make use of oceanography, marine biology, and to weave in stories about the successes and failures of other athletes, giving us a deeper, broader understanding of this exhilarating and fast growing sport.