In this book the authors consider the natural environment as an integrated system and describe a cohesive approach to its modelling and prediction. The book emphasises the mathematical representation and numerical simulation of the interactions between the various environmental components and those of the environmental processes, including physical, chemical and biological. Furthermore, it summarises some of the recent progress and new developments in the modelling and prediction of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, continental hydrosphere, cryosphere, etc. The authors also explore new theoretical frameworks in environmental prediction, such as systems analysis and statistical-dynamic modelling. The applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems in environmental modelling and prediction are discussed. Examples of integrated environmental modelling are given

Tracking initial ocean (de)oxygenation is critical to better constrain the coevolution of life and environment. Development of thallium isotopes has provided evidence to track the global manganese oxide burial which responds to early (de)oxygenation for short-term climate events. Modern oxic seawater thallium isotope values are recorded in organic-rich sediments deposited below an anoxic water column. An expansion of reducing conditions decrease manganese oxide burial and shifts the seawater thallium isotope composition more positive. Recent work documents that thallium isotopes are perturbed prior to carbon isotope excursions, suggesting ocean deoxygenation is a precursor for increased organic carbon burial. This Element provides an introduction to the application of thallium isotopes, case studies, and future directions.

When people hear the word “migration,” they think of animals that move from a feeding area to a breeding area and back each year. But the greatest migration on Earth happens twice every night. The movement is largely vertical and performed by plankton followed by predatory fish, squid, octopus and other species that have acquired a taste for plankton. The migration starts deep in the waters of the ocean at sunset. As they move, the plankton nibble on plant plankton and other tasty morsels in the water and, eventually, some on each other. The feeding ends just before dawn when the plankton retreat to the depths of the ocean to hide during the day until the next evening, when they migrate back up the water column. In Planktonia, Erich Hoyt invites readers to dive into the dazzling nighttime ocean. Countless microscopic plankton — larval creatures such as ornate ghost pipefish, left-handed hermit crabs and bony-eared assfish — ascend to the upper waters to feed, returning to the depths before sunrise. These tiny planktonic creatures are delicate and beautiful; some look terrifying; and most look nothing like the creatures they will become as adults. This great vertical migration attracts larger adult creatures, too, from the solitary 6-inch (15 cm) bigfin reef squid and the fierce and hungry 6½ foot (2 m) female blanket octopus, which is up to 40,000 times heavier than her male mate. Everyone comes here for the midnight feast, and they are all ravenously hungry. Chapters in this book include: Hawai’i: From Bluewater to Blackwater; Awesome Anilao; The Gulf Stream Procession of Life; Blackwater White Sea; Precious Life of Plankton; Blackwater Unlimited; From Blackwater Passion to Protection. All life in the ocean depends on plankton. Plankton plays a key role in sequestering carbon against climate change. The great nightly vertical migration highlights the importance of protecting not only ocean species but also ecosystems that embrace ocean processes from the depths of the sea to surface waters.

In recent decades, great progress has been made in our understanding of zonal jets across many subjects - atmospheric science, oceanography, planetary science, geophysical fluid dynamics, plasma physics, magnetohydrodynamics, turbulence theory - but communication between researchers from different fields has been weak or non-existent. Even the terminology in different fields may be so disparate that researchers working on similar problems do not understand each other. This comprehensive, multidisciplinary volume will break cross-disciplinary barriers and aid the advancement of the subject. It presents a state-of-the-art summary of all relevant branches of the physics of zonal jets, from the leading experts. The phenomena and concepts are introduced at a level accessible to beginning graduate students and researchers from different fields. The book also includes a very extensive bibliography.

This book introduces the new discipline of urban oceanography, providing a deeper understanding of the physics of the coastal ocean in an urban setting. The authors explore how the coastal ocean impacts with the humans who live, work and play along its shores; and in turn how human activities impact the health and dynamics of the coastal ocean. Fundamental topics covered include: the governing dynamical equations; tidal and circulation processes; variation of salinity and freshwater fluxes; watershed pollutants; observing systems; and climate change. Bridging the gaps between the fields of engineering, physical and social sciences, economics, and policy, this book is for anyone who wishes to learn about the physics, chemistry, and biology of coastal waters. It will support an introductory course on urban oceanography at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level, and will also prove invaluable as a reference text for researchers, professionals, coastal urban planners, and environmental engineers.

The ocean and its inhabitants sketch and stretch our understandings of law in unexpected ways. Inspired by the blue turn in the social sciences and humanities, Blue Legalities explores how regulatory frameworks and governmental infrastructures are made, reworked, and contested in the oceans. Its interdisciplinary contributors analyze topics that range from militarization and Maori cosmologies to island building in the South China Sea and underwater robotics. Throughout, Blue Legalities illuminates the vast and unusual challenges associated with regulating the turbulent materialities and lives of the sea. Offering much more than an analysis of legal frameworks, the chapters in this volume show how the more-than-human ocean is central to the construction of terrestrial institutions and modes of governance. By thinking with the more-than-human ocean, Blue Legalities questions what we think we know-and what we don't know-about oceans, our earthly planet, and ourselves. Contributors. Stacy Alaimo, Amy Braun, Irus Braverman, Holly Jean Buck, Jennifer L. Gaynor, Stefan Helmreich, Elizabeth R. Johnson, Stephanie Jones, Zsofia Korosy, Berit Kristoffersen, Jessica Lehman, Astrida Neimanis, Susan Reid, Alison Rieser, Katherine G. Sammler, Astrid Schrader, Kristen L. Shake, Phil Steinberg

The oceans cover approximately 71% of Earth's surface, 90% of the biosphere and contains 97% of Earth's water. Since the first launch of SEASAT satellite in 1978, an increasing number of SAR satellites have or will become available, such as the European Space Agency's ERS-1/-2, ENVISAT, and Sentinel-1 series; the Canadian RADARSAT-1/-2 and the upcoming RADARSAT Constellation Mission series satellites; the Italian COSMO-SkyMed satellites, the German TERRASAR-X and TANDEM-X, and the Chinese GAOFEN-3 SAR, among others. Recently, European Space Agency has launched a new generation of SAR satellites, Sentinel-1A in 2014 and Sentinel-1B in 2016. These SAR satellites provide researchers with free and open SAR images necessary to carry out their research on the global oceans. The scope of Advances in SAR Remote Sensing of Oceans is to demonstrate the types of information that can be obtained from SAR images of the oceans, and the cutting-edge methods needed for analysing SAR images. Written by leading experts in the field, and divided into four sections, the book presents the basic principles of radar backscattering from the ocean surface; introduces the recent progresses in SAR remote sensing of dynamic coastal environment and management; discusses the state-of-the-art methods to monitor parameters or phenomena related to the dynamic ocean environment; and deals specifically with new techniques and findings of marine atmospheric boundary layer observations. Advances in SAR Remote Sensing of Oceans is a very comprehensive and up-to-date reference intended for use by graduate students, researchers, practitioners, and R&D engineers working in the vibrant field of oceans, interested to understand how SAR remote sensing can support oceanography research and applications.

Opening with recent advances in both the theoretical and physical models for wave-seabed-structure interactions, this book provides an updated look at the mathematics behind the interactions between sea, soil and man-made structures. The main models are broken down into key equations, and their strengths and challenges are discussed. These models are then placed in context with industry-relevant examples, in both two and three dimensions. From seabed instability around offshore wind turbines, to soil conditions in response to the laying of submarine pipelines, this book takes a comprehensive look at a variety of wave-seabed-structure interactions. With important implications for the future of offshore infrastructure, this is an ideal resource for industry workers, undergraduate students, and researchers.

Mounting evidence that human activities are substantially modifying the Earth's climate brings a new imperative to the study of the ocean's large-scale circulation. This textbook provides a concise but comprehensive introduction to the theory of large-scale ocean circulation, as it is currently understood and established. Students and instructors will benefit from the carefully chosen chapter-by-chapter exercises. This advanced textbook is invaluable for graduate students and researchers in the fields of oceanic, atmospheric and climate sciences, and other geophysical scientists, as well as physicists and mathematicians with a quantitative interest in the planetary fluid environment.

Estuaries are of high socioeconomic importance with twenty-two of the thirty-two largest cities in the world located on river estuaries. Estuaries bring together fluxes of fresh and saline water, as well as fluvial and marine sediments, and contain high biological diversity. Increasingly sophisticated field observation technology and numerical modeling have produced significant advances in our understanding of the physical properties of estuaries over the last decade. This book introduces a classification for estuaries before presenting the basic physics and hydrodynamics of estuarine circulation and the various factors that modify it in time and space. It then covers special topics at the forefront of research such as turbulence, fronts in estuaries and continental shelves, low inflow estuaries, and implications of estuarine transport for water quality. Written by leading authorities on estuarine and lagoon hydrodynamics, this volume provides a concise foundation for academic researchers, advanced students and coastal resource managers.

Double-diffusive convection is a mixing process driven by the interaction of two fluid components which diffuse at different rates. Leading expert Timour Radko presents the first systematic overview of the classical theory of double-diffusive convection in a coherent narrative, bringing together the disparate literature in this developing field. The book begins by exploring idealized dynamical models and illustrating key principles by examples of oceanic phenomena. Building on the theory, it then explains the dynamics of structures resulting from double-diffusive instabilities, such as the little-understood phenomenon of thermohaline staircases. The book also surveys non-oceanographic applications, such as industrial, astrophysical and geological manifestations, and discusses the climatic and biological consequences of double-diffusive convection. Providing a balanced blend of fundamental theory and real-world examples, this is an indispensable resource for academic researchers, professionals and graduate students in physical oceanography, fluid dynamics, applied mathematics, astrophysics, geophysics and climatology.

Buoyancy is one of the main forces driving flows on our planet, especially in the oceans and atmosphere. These flows range from buoyant coastal currents to dense overflows in the ocean, and from avalanches to volcanic pyroclastic flows on the Earth's surface. This book brings together contributions by leading world scientists to summarize our present theoretical, observational, experimental and modeling understanding of buoyancy-driven flows. Buoyancy-driven currents play a key role in the global ocean circulation and in climate variability through their impact on deep-water formation. Buoyancy-driven currents are also primarily responsible for the redistribution of fresh water throughout the world's oceans. This book is an invaluable resource for advanced students and researchers in oceanography, geophysical fluid dynamics, atmospheric science and the wider Earth sciences who need a state-of-the-art reference on buoyancy-driven flows.

Wave breaking represents one of the most interesting and challenging problems for fluid mechanics and physical oceanography. Over the last fifteen years our understanding has undergone a dramatic leap forward, and wave breaking has emerged as a process whose physics is clarified and quantified. Ocean wave breaking plays the primary role in the air-sea exchange of momentum, mass and heat, and it is of significant importance for ocean remote sensing, coastal and ocean engineering, navigation and other practical applications. This book outlines the state of the art in our understanding of wave breaking and presents the main outstanding problems. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in this topic, including researchers, modellers, forecasters, engineers and graduate students in physical oceanography, meteorology and ocean engineering.

Written by a group of international experts in their field, this book is a review of Lagrangian observation, analysis and assimilation methods in physical and biological oceanography. This multidisciplinary text presents new results on nonlinear analysis of Lagrangian dynamics, the prediction of particle trajectories, and Lagrangian stochastic models. It includes historical information, up-to-date developments, and speculation on future developments in Lagrangian-based observations, analysis, and modeling of physical and biological systems. Containing contributions from experimentalists, theoreticians, and modelers in the fields of physical oceanography, marine biology, mathematics, and meteorology, this book will be of great interest to researchers and graduate students looking for both practical applications and information on the theory of transport and dispersion in physical systems, biological modeling, and data assimilation.

Underwater acousticians and acoustical oceanographers use sound as the premier tool to determine the detailed characteristics of physical and biological bodies and processes at sea. Sounds in the Sea is a comprehensive and accessible textbook on ocean acoustics and acoustical oceanography. The first nine chapters provide the basic tools of ocean acoustics. The following fifteen chapters are written by many of the world's most successful ocean researchers. These chapters describe modern developments, and are divided into four sections: Studies of the Near Surface Ocean; Bioacoustical Studies; Studies of Ocean Dynamics; and Studies of the Ocean Bottom. This is an invaluable textbook for any course in ocean acoustics for the physical and biological ocean sciences, and engineering. It will also serve as a reference for researchers and professionals in ocean acoustics, and an excellent introduction to the topic for scientists from related fields.

This book provides an advanced introduction to the science behind automated prediction systems, focusing on sea ice analysis and forecasting. Starting from basic principles, fundamental concepts in sea ice physics, remote sensing, numerical methods, and statistics are explained at an accessible level. Existing operational automated prediction systems are described and their impacts on information providers and end clients are discussed. The book also provides insight into the likely future development of sea ice services and how they will evolve from mainly manual processes to increasing automation, with a consequent increase in the diversity and information content of new ice products. With contributions from world-leading experts in the fields of sea ice remote sensing, data assimilation, numerical modelling, and verification and operational prediction, this comprehensive reference is ideal for students, sea ice analysts, and researchers, as well as decision-makers and professionals working in the ice service industry.

This book describes the latest developments in the hydrodynamics and morphodynamics of tidal inlets, with an emphasis on natural inlets. A review of morphological features and sand transport pathways is presented, followed by an overview of empirical relationships between inlet cross-sectional area, ebb delta volume, flood delta volume and tidal prism. Results of field observations and laboratory experiments are discussed and simple mathematical models are presented that calculate the inlet current and basin tide. The method to evaluate the cross-sectional stability of inlets, proposed by Escoffier, is reviewed, and is expanded, for the first time, to include double inlet systems. This volume is an ideal reference for coastal scientists, engineers and researchers, in the fields of coastal engineering, geomorphology, marine geology and oceanography.

This edited volume addresses the impacts of climate change on Pacific islands, and presents databases and indexes for assessing and adapting to island vulnerabilities. By analyzing susceptibility variables, developing comprehensive vulnerability indexes, and applying GIS techniques, the book's authors demonstrate the particular issues presented by climate change in the islands of the Pacific region, and how these issues may be managed to preserve and improve biodiversity and human livelihoods. The book first introduces the issues specific to island communities, such as high emissions impacts, and discusses the importance of the lithological traits of Pacific islands and how these physical factors relate to climate change impacts. From here, the book aims to analyze the various vulnerabilities of different island sectors, and to formulate a susceptibility index from these variables to be used by government and planning agencies for relief prioritization. Such variables include tropical cyclones, built infrastructures, proximity to coastal areas, agriculture, fisheries and marine resources, groundwater availability, biodiversity, and economic impacts on industries such as tourism. Through the categorization and indexing of these variables, human and physical adaptation measures are proposed, and support solutions are offered to aid the inhabitants of affected island countries. This book is intended for policy makers, academics, and climate change researchers, particularly those dealing with climate change impacts on small islands.

Presents information, methodologies, and a common vision formed over a five-year study period under the NATO-CCMS Describes rich and diverse ecosystems under threat from development activities Provides essential information for selecting the best solution for a specific lagoon environment Coastal Lagoons: Ecosystem Processes and Sustainable Management describes the concepts, models, and data needed to design and implement sustainable management programs for coastal lagoons. Based on a project conducted under the auspices of NATO-CCMS (North Atlantic Treaty Organization - Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society), the authors show that by understanding the biogeochemical and ecological processes, along with the impacts of human land and water uses, policies can be designed and implemented to allow for balanced and sustainable coastal lagoon management.

This book provides an overview of the major changes induced by hydrocarbons (HCs) affecting rocks and surface sediments and their implications for non-seismic exploration methods, particularly for marine territories near Cuba. It examines the use of a digital elevation model (DEM) at 90x90m resolution for the detection of subtle, positive geomorphic anomalies related to hydrocarbon microseepage (vertical migration) on possible oil and gas targets. The results support the conclusion that the DEM data provides a low cost and fast offshore oil and gas preliminary exploration strategy. This data is useful serving to focus prospective areas with supplementary unconventional methods such as magnetic-induced polarization (MIP), useful to propose more expensive volumes for detailed 2D-3D seismic surveys.

Offshore drilling and constructions require exact knowledge of the geophysical properties of the seabed and sub-seabed, as unexpected objects can slow down or halt projects. This book presents the state-of-the-art in acoustic exploration of the seabed and sub-seabed, from initial designs in the 1980s to commercial contracting and operation of the Acoustic Corer (TM) in the last decade. The Acoustic Corer (TM) is a high-definition commercial acoustic sub-bottom imaging system, producing an "acoustic core" within which sub-seabed sedimentary characteristics and discrete buried objects larger than 0.5 m can be identified and mapped. It makes use of the innovative JYG-cross design, inspired by seismic reflection and uses Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) multi-angle scattering in and within the seabed to deliver unprecedented imagery. This book was written by the inventor of these concepts, a known specialist in seabed acoustics, with help from an experienced academic and author. It is intended first and foremost as a "how-to" guide for offshore industries looking at techniques to make the installation of different types of structures safe and efficient.

In the last 50 years marine conservation has grown from almost nothing to become a major topic of global activity involving many people and organisations. Marine conservation activities have been applied to a huge diversity of species, habitats, ecosystems and whole seas. Many marine conservation actions have focused on human impacts on the marine environment from development and pollution to the impacts of fisheries. Whilst science has provided the backbone of thinking on marine conservation, perhaps the biggest change over this period has been the use of an ever-increasing range of techniques and disciplines to further marine conservation ends. Bob Earll explores what marine conservation involves in practice by providing a synthesis of the main developments from the viewpoints of 19 leading practitioners and pioneers who have helped shape its progress and successes. Their narratives highlight the diversity and richness of activity, and the realities of delivering marine conservation in practice with reference to a host of projects and case studies. Many of these narratives demonstrate how innovative conservationists have been - often developing novel approaches to problems where little information and no frameworks exist. The case studies described are based on a wide range of European and international projects. This book takes an in-depth look at the reality of delivering marine conservation in practice, where achieving change is often a complicated process, with barriers to overcome that have nothing to do with science. Marine conservationists will often be working with stakeholders for whom marine conservation is not a priority. This book aims to help readers describe and understand those realities, and shows that successful and inspirational projects can be delivered against the odds.

Crabs can be found in abundance along the shorelines from Oregon to BC, burrowed under sand, soil and rocks. Keep this portable field guide handy on trips to the seashore to identify over forty species of crabs and hermit crabs in all shapes and sizes. Discover the differences between the Butterfly Crab and the Puget Sound King Crab and learn how to distinguish between male and female crabs. With full-colour photographs featuring both dorsal and ventral views, and accompanied by descriptive text for easy identification, A Field Guide to Crabs of the Pacific Northwest is an ideal companion for curious beachgoers of all ages.

The work is aimed at the review of hot topics in modern light scattering and radiative transfer. A special attention will be given to the description of the methods of integro-differential radiative transfer equation solution. In particular, the asymptotic radiative transfer and the method of discrete ordinates will be considered. A comprehensive review of light absorption in the terrestrial atmosphere will be given as well. The inverse problem solution will be reviewed as well.

Mass Transport, Gravity Flows, and Bottom Currents: Downslope and Alongslope Processes and Deposits focuses solely on important downslope and alongslope processes. The book provides clear definitions and characteristics based on soil mechanics, fluid mechanics and sediment concentration by volume. It addresses Slides, Slumps, and Debris Flows, Grain Flows, Liquefied/Fluidized Flows, and Turbidity Currents, Density plumes, Hyperpycnal Flows, the Triggering Mechanisms of Downslope Processes, Bottom Currents, and Soft-Sediment Deformation Structures. The mechanics of each process are described in detail and used to provide empirically-driven categories to help recognize these deposits it the rock record. Case studies clearly illustrate of the problems inherent in recognizing these processes in the rock record, and potential solutions are provided alongside future avenues of research. An appendix also provides step-by-step guidance in describing and interpreting sediments.