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Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > The hydrosphere > Oceanography (seas)
Sea ice is a major component of polar environments, especially
in the Arctic where it covers the entire Arctic Ocean throughout
most of the year. However, in the context of climate change, the
Arctic sea ice cover has been declining significantly over the last
decades, either in terms of its concentration or thickness. The sea
ice cover evolution and climate change are strongly coupled through
the albedo positive feedback, thus possibly explaining the Arctic
amplification of climate warming. In addition to thermodynamics,
sea ice kinematics (drift, deformation) appears as an essential
factor in the evolution of the ice cover through a reduction of the
average ice age (and consequently of the cover's thickness), or ice
export out of the Arctic. This is a first motivation for a better
understanding of the kinematical and mechanical processes of sea
ice. A more upstream, theoretical motivation is a better
understanding of the brittle deformation of geophysical objects
across a wide range of scales. Indeed, owing to its very strong
kinematics, compared e.g. to the Earth s crust, an unrivaled
kinematical data set is available for sea ice from in situ (e.g.
drifting buoys) or satellite observations. Here, we review the
recent advances in the understanding of sea ice drift, deformation
and fracturing obtained from these data. We focus particularly on
the scaling properties in time and scale that characterize these
processes, and we emphasize the analogies that can be drawn from
the deformation of the Earth s crust. These scaling properties,
which are the signature of long-range elastic interactions within
the cover, constrain future developments in the modeling of sea ice
mechanics. We also show that kinematical and rheological variables
such as average velocity, average strain-rate or strength have
significantly changed over the last decades, accompanying and
actually accelerating the Arctic sea ice decline.
This book provides an integrated view of Atlantic coastal Patagonian ecosystems, including the physical environment, biodiversity and the main ecological processes, together with their derived ecosystem services and anthropogenic impacts. It focuses on the key components of the aquatic ecosystem, covering the lower levels (plankton) to the top predators like large mammals and birds, before turning to human beings as consumers and shapers of coastal marine resources. The book then presents an overview of how organisms that constitute the aquatic food webs have changed through time and how they likely will soon change due to global change processes and anthropogenic pressures. In this regard it offers a wealth of information such as long-term patterns in physical / atmospheric processes, biodiversity and the distribution of marine organisms, as well as the results of experimental studies designed to understand their responses under future scenarios shaped by both climate change and anthropogenic pressures. The book also covers various aspects of the past, present and potential future relationship of human beings with Patagonian coastal environments, including the utilization of sea products, tourism, and growth of cities.
The book presents current research into the effect that environmental conditions have on volcanic eruptions and the subsequent emplacement of volcanic products. This is accomplished through a series of chapters that investigate specific environments - both terrestrial and extraterrestrial - and the expression of volcanic materials found within those settings. Current state-of-the-art numerical, analytical and computer models are used in most chapters to provide robust, quantitative insights into how volcanoes behave in different environmental settings. Readership: Upper level undergraduates and new graduates. The book is primarily a presentation of research results rather than a tutorial for the general public. Textbook or supplementary reading for courses in volcanology or comparative planetology at college/university level.
Easter Island, a World Heritage Site is still, after over 50 years since Thor Heyerdahl's work on the island, a fascinating area to explore and learn about a culture that has only remnants remaining, while documenting a marine ecology still mostly unknown. Easter Island: Scientific Exploration into the World's Environmental Problems in Microcosm presents the research results from three years of interdisciplinary expeditions to Easter Island. The primary objectives were to investigate the effects of human population growth on the ecology of the island and to discover whether any dramatic climatic changes such as a prolonged El Nino could have disrupted the island's fragile ecosystem. The interdisciplinary scientific team were mainly researching the paleontology, archaeology, climatology, and geophysics of the island. This book now brings together the results of the three expeditions, identifies new areas of research, and hopefully will continue to inspire aspiring scientists to revisit this amazing island to explore and demystify this timeless enigma of human history.
The continental shelf seas have an importance which is out of proportion to the rela tively small fraction of the area of the global ocean which they occupy. These shallow seas play an important role as the high energy boundary zones of the deep ocean where much of the ocean's tidal and wave energies are dissipated. They are highly productive biologically and are responsible for most of the world's fishery production. In many cases, they are also sources of economically important resources, notably hydrocarbons and they are frequently important as thorough fares for merchant shipping. Because they are the regions of the ocean closest to our centres of population and industrial activity, they have been the first to feel the impact of the increasing pressures imposed by large scale waste disposal into the ocean. The North Sea is an archetypal representative of such seas: we need to be able to understand its processes and predict them if we are to achieve a degree of rational management in the future, as the environmental threats increase. The understanding required extends through a wide range of processes that operate in the shelf seas from the fundamental physics to the chemistry and biology of the water column and the seabed sediments. These processes, and the interactions between them, cut across the traditional discipline boundaries within marine science and require a substantial inter disciplinary effort for their effective study.
This book is devoted to the quantitative physical modeling of subduction and subduction-related processes. It presents a coherent description of the modeling method (including similarity criteria, and a novel applied experimental technique), results from model experiments, theoretical analysis of results on the basis of continuum mechanics, and their geodynamic interpretation. Subduction is modeled in general as well as applied to particular regions using both 2-D and 3-D approaches, with both slab-push and slab-pull driving forces. The modeling covers all stages from subduction initiation to death', different regimes of subduction producing back arc extension and compression, blocking of subduction and jumps of subduction zone, arc-continent collision and continental subduction. This work is for geologists and geophysicists interested in geodynamics of the convergent plate boundaries and in mechanics of the lithosphere.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) have an important role in marine conserva tion programmes around the world. Although most have been established relatively recently when compared with protected areas on land, there is considerable expertise on their identification, setting up and management. Some techniques have been adapted from those used on land. Others are novel, and unique to marine conservation. The chapters in this book give an insight into this fast developing field where experiment and innovation work alongside techniques which have been tried and tested. The guiding princi ples behind key stages in the setting up and management of MP As are described, and case studies illustrate how they have worked. While it is most encouraging to read about the successes, the case studies also point to difficulties which have been encountered. Not all of the examples are new or recent but, together, they illustrate what is happening in this field.
The problems of making inferences about the natural world from noisy observations and imperfect theories occur in almost all scientific disciplines. This 2006 book addresses these problems using examples taken from geophysical fluid dynamics. It focuses on discrete formulations, both static and time-varying, known variously as inverse, state estimation or data assimilation problems. Starting with fundamental algebraic and statistical ideas, the book guides the reader through a range of inference tools including the singular value decomposition, Gauss-Markov and minimum variance estimates, Kalman filters and related smoothers, and adjoint (Lagrange multiplier) methods. The final chapters discuss a variety of practical applications to geophysical flow problems. Discrete Inverse and State Estimation Problems is an ideal introduction to the topic for graduate students and researchers in oceanography, meteorology, climate dynamics, and geophysical fluid dynamics. It is also accessible to a wider scientific audience; the only prerequisite is an understanding of linear algebra.
The results of an interdisciplinary research project on stability mechanisms and processes in the Wadden Sea ecosystem. The book describes distribution patterns of abiotic and biotic components over space and time and their regeneration following experimentally induced and natural disturbances -- analysed with multivariate statistics and ecological models. Recommendations for future research and consideration of stability mechanisms for the management of a dynamic system are also given.
Preface This book is the culmination of a workshop jointly organized by NATO and CEC on Climate-Ocean Interaction which was held at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University during 26-30 September 1988. The objective of the ARW was to assess the current status of research on climate-ocean interaction, with a major focus on the development of coupled atmosphere-ocean-ice models and their application in the study of past, present and possible future climates. This book contains 16 chapters divided into four parts: Introduction; Observations of the Climate of the Ocean; Modelling the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Sea Ice Components of the Climatic System; and Simulating the Variability of Climate on Short, Medium and Long Time Scales. A fifth part contains the reports of the five Working Groups on: Climate Observations, Modelling, ENSO Modelling and Prediction, Climate-Ocean Interaction on TIme Scales of Decades to Centuries, and Impact of Paleoclimatic Proxy Data on Climate Modelling. Preface ix Acknowledgements I thank Howard Cattle and Neil Wells for their guidance and assistance as members of the Workshop Organizing Committee. I particularly thank Michael Davey for all his efforts as Local Organizer to make the ARW a success. I also thank the staff of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, for their help with the arrangements for the ARW.
The earth where we live is the only planet of our solar system that holds a mass of water we know as the ocean, covering 70.8% of the earth's surface with a mean depth of 3,800 m. When using the term ocean, we mean not only the water and what it contains, but also the bottom that supports the water mass above and the atmosphere on the sea surface. Modern oceanography thus deals with the water, the bottom of the ocean, and the air thereon. In addition, varied interactions take place between the ocean and the land so that such interface areas are also extended domains of oceanography. In ancient times our ancestors took an interest in nearshore seas, making them an object of constant study. Deep seas, on the other hand, largely remained an area beyond their reach. Modern academic research on deep seas is said to have been started by the first round-the-world voyage of Her Majesty's R/V Challenger I from 1872 to 1876. It has been only 120 years since the British ship leftPortsmouth on this voyage, so oceanography can thus be considered still a young science on its way to full maturity.
Data assimilation is considered a key component of numerical ocean
model development and new data acquisition strategies. The basic
concept of data assimilation is to combine real observations via
estimation theory with dynamic models. Related methodologies exist
in meteorology, geophysics and engineering. Of growing importance
in physical oceanography, data assimilation can also be exploited
in biological and chemical oceanography. Such techniques are now
recognized as essential to understand the role of the ocean in a
global change perspective.
This monograph is an attempt to compile the present state of knowledge on ocean wave analysis and prediction. The emphasis of the monograph is on the development of ocean wave analysis and predic tion procedures and their utility for real-time operations and appli cations. Most of the material in the monograph is derived from journal articles, research reports and recent conference proceedings; some of the basic material is extracted from standard text books on physical oceanography and wind waves. Ocean wave analysis and prediction is becoming an important activity in the meteorological and oceanographic services of many countries. The present status of ocean wave prediction may be compar able to the status of numerical weather prediction of the mid-sixties and early seventies when a number of weather prediction models were developed for research purposes, many of which were later put into operational use by meteorological services of several countries. The increased emphasis on sea-state analysis and prediction has created a need for a ready reference material on various ocean wave analysis and modelling techniques and their utility. The present monograph is aimed at fulfilling this need. The monograph should prove useful to the ocean wave modelling community as well as to marine forecasters, coastal engineers and offshore technologists. The monograph could also be used for a senior undergraduate (or a first year graduate) level course in ocean wave modelling and marine meteorology.
This textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students presents a multidisciplinary approach to understanding ocean circulation and how it drives and controls marine biogeochemistry and biological productivity at a global scale. Background chapters on ocean physics, chemistry and biology provide students with the tools to examine the range of large-scale physical and dynamic phenomena that control the ocean carbon cycle and its interaction with the atmosphere. Throughout the text observational data is integrated with basic physical theory to address cutting-edge research questions in ocean biogeochemistry. Simple theoretical models, data plots and schematic illustrations summarise key results and connect the physical theory to real observations. Advanced mathematics is provided in boxes and appendices where it can be drawn on to assist with the worked examples and homework exercises available online. Further reading lists for each chapter and a comprehensive glossary provide students and instructors with a complete learning package.
This 1971 volume presents the proceedings of a Symposium of Micropalaeontology of Marine Bottom Sediments held in Cambridge, England, in September 1967. The collection and paleontological interpretations of deep-sea sediments had only been carried out intensively for the twenty years preceding the book's publication, and it provides a summary of the state of knowledge in this field as it stood. Beginning with a consideration of the organisms in relation to the water in which they live, successive chapters deal with the descent of the skeletons to the sea floor, their entombment in the sediments and their interpretation to elucidate the history of the oceans. It is written by many of the specialists responsible for the development of this field and includes numerous Russian contributions. This book became the definitive compendium for students and workers in oceanography and palaeontology, and is still a useful resource today.
Senior level/graduate level text/reference presenting state-of-the- art numerical techniques to solve the wave equation in heterogeneous fluid-solid media. Numerical models have become standard research tools in acoustic laboratories, and thus computational acoustics is becoming an increasingly important branch of ocean acoustic science. The first edition of this successful book, written by the recognized leaders of the field, was the first to present a comprehensive and modern introduction to computational ocean acoustics accessible to students. This revision, with 100 additional pages, completely updates the material in the first edition and includes new models based on current research. It includes problems and solutions in every chapter, making the book more useful in teaching (the first edition had a separate solutions manual). The book is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students of acoustics, geology and geophysics, applied mathematics, ocean engineering or as a reference in computational methods courses, as well as professionals in these fields, particularly those working in government (especially Navy) and industry labs engaged in the development or use of propagating models.
The present state of the art of dam engineering has been ronmental, and political factors, which, though important, attained by a continuous search for new ideas and methods are covered in other publications. while incorporating the lessons of the past. In the last 20 The rapid progress in recent times has resulted from the years particularly there have been major innovations, due combined efforts of engineers and associated scientists, as largely to a concerted effort to blend the best of theory and exemplified by the authorities who have contributed to this practice. Accompanying these achievements, there has been book. These individuals have brought extensive knowledge a significant trend toward free interchange among the pro to the task, drawn from experience throughout the world. fessional disciplines, including open discussion of prob With the convergence of such distinguished talent, the op lems and their solutions. The inseparable relationships of portunity for accomplishment was substantial. I gratefully hydrology, geology, and seismology to engineering have acknowledge the generous cooperation of these writers, and been increasingly recognized in this field, where progress am indebted also to other persons and organizations that is founded on interdisciplinary cooperation. have allowed reference to their publications; and I have This book presents advances in dam engineering that attempted to acknowledge this obligation in the sections have been achieved in recent years or are under way. At where the material is used. These courtesies are deeply ap tention is given to practical aspects of design, construction, preciated."
Subtropical convergence regions in the southwestern Atlantic have a
high biological productivity, and are important as nursery and
feeding areas and as reproduction grounds for fishery stocks of
subtropical and antarctic origin.
This advanced textbook on modeling, data analysis and numerical techniques for marine science has been developed from a course taught by the authors for many years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The first part covers statistics: singular value decomposition, error propagation, least squares regression, principal component analysis, time series analysis and objective interpolation. The second part deals with modeling techniques: finite differences, stability analysis and optimization. The third part describes case studies of actual ocean models of ever increasing dimensionality and complexity, starting with zero-dimensional models and finishing with three-dimensional general circulation models. Throughout the book hands-on computational examples are introduced using the MATLAB programming language and the principles of scientific visualization are emphasised. Ideal as a textbook for advanced students of oceanography on courses in data analysis and numerical modeling, the book is also an invaluable resource for a broad range of scientists undertaking modeling in chemical, biological, geological and physical oceanography.
This 2005 book gives a comprehensive overview of measurement techniques and theories for marine turbulence and mixing processes. It describes the processes which control the mixing of greenhouse gases, nutrients, trace elements, and hazardous substances in our oceans and shelf seas - from local to planetary scales. These processes buffer climate changes and are centrally important for regional to global ecosystem dynamics. The publication also contains source codes of turbulence models and models of the upper-ocean mixing layer (COHERENS and GOTM), and observational data sets of turbulence characteristics or corresponding proxies of waters from all over the world. These can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521153720. Written by a team of 53 world-leading experts, it represents a rich source of data and methods for students and scientists in oceanography, hydrology, limnology, and meteorology, as well as marine, naval and civil engineers.
Increasing population, expanding industry and commerce, and tourism are placing added pressures on an already highly-utilized coastal zone. This book, through a series of case studies, illustrates the variety of changes already made along the coastlines of the world. The examples used are mainly from China, Japan, The Netherlands, and the United States, all countries with extensively engineered shorelines. Modifications emphasized include those associated with protection against coastal erosion, building of artificial beaches and islands, reclamation for aquaculture and agriculture, and the construction of harbors. The information in this book should be useful for all planners and engineers involved in the construction of coastal engineering works and for students interested in coastal modification.
Annals of natural disasters have always caused common interest. Scientists and specialists of various domains, teachers, students, post-graduates, journalists .. and merely inquisitive can find useful and didactic information in such annals~ Sad experience of the natural disasters endured gives very important material for humanity. It allows us not only to understand better the phenomenon itself, but also to prepare ourselves for future cataclysms, which our "Mother-Nature" is so rich in. The book by Sergey Soloviev and a group of his collaborators represents a detailed description of tsunami waves and accompanying phenomena in the Mediterranean Sea over a period of approximately four thousand years. Sergey Soloviev, the founder and recognised leader of the Russian scientific school of tsunami researchers, was unable to see the publication of this book, passing away on March 9, 1994. However, his ample experience in investigation and systematisation of tsunami waves for the Pacific area [Soloviev and Go, 1974, 1975; Soloviev, Go and Kim, 1986] has been widely used in compiling this book. The Mediterranean coasts are the cradle of civilisation. Written accounts of past disasters in this region of the Earth are rather numerous and highly reliable. Therefore the results of the tsunami study in the Mediterranean Sea are of specific value both for the scientific community and for humanity at large.
This book provides an up-to-date introduction to the theory of
sound propagation in the ocean. The text treats both ray and wave
propagation and pays considerable attention to stochastic problems
such as the scattering of sound at rough surfaces and random
inhomogeneities. An introductory chapter that discusses the basic
experimental data complements the following theoretical chapters.
This unique collaboration of Russian and Norwegian scientists examines the most recent data on the White Sea bathymetry, examines the ecosystem profile, and provides extensive historical marine and riverine data records. The book presents extensive data and numerical modelling simulations of the White Sea to provide a quantitative assessment of vulnerability of the Sea 's marine ecosystems, of future anthropogenic and climate change forcing.
This book fills a gap in knowledge of breaking waves and their influence on the generation of marine fluxes from ocean surfaces. Based on published data as well as on the author's experience, the text explores in detail the relationship chain of breaking waves, whitecaps coverage, rate of wave energy dissipation, amount of aerosol fluxes rising from a given sea basin, and possible seasonal variations. |
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