![]() |
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
|
Your cart is empty |
||
|
Books > Earth & environment > Earth sciences > The hydrosphere > Oceanography (seas)
Anoxic basins are ofgreat interest to oceanographersofall disciplines. Theirextreme conditionsresult from acombinationofhigh oxygen utilization and restricted circulation. It is necessery to understand present -day anoxic environments ifwe are to understand the early evolution of the oceans (e.g. SiIlen, 1965). Sarmiento et al.(1988a) explored the causes of anoxia in the global ocean, which is in effect a "closed" basin and in marginal seas such as the Eastern Mediterranean (Sarmiento et al. 1988b). Anoxic conditions have been proposed toexist in various ocean basins at different times in the geological past (e.g. the Crataceous period; Weissert, 1981) and possibly as recent as the last glacial maximum (e.g., Sarmiento and Toggweiler,1984). The modern Black Sea has been considered as the type anoxic basin. It is the world's 2 3 largest permanaently anoxic basin (area = 423,000 km; volume = 534,000 km ) and is thought to be aquasi-steady state system. It is extremely isolated from the rest ofthe world's oceans. Only the narrow and shallow Bosporus Strait provides water exchange with the Mediterranean. Concentrationsofhydrogen sulfide reach valuesof350 Mm in the deep water and the oxygen-hydrogen sulfide Interface exists between 80 and 200m waterdepth. The hydrographic regime is characterized by low salinity surface water of riverine origin overlying high salinity deep waterofMediterranean origin. Asteep pycnocline is the primary phycical barrier to mixing and is the origin of the stability of the anoxic interface.
In recent years, research on acoustic remote sensing of the ocean has evolved considerably, especially in studying complex physical and biological processes in shallow water environments. To review the state of the art, an international workshop was held at Carvoeiro, Portugal, in March 1999, bringing together leading international researchers in the field. In contrast to much of the recent theoretical work, emphasis was placed on the experimental validation of the techniques. This volume, based on presentations at this workshop, summarizes a range of diverse and innovative applications. The invited contributions explore the use of acoustics to measure bottom properties and morphology, as well as to probe buried objects within the sediment. Within the water column, sound is applied to imaging of oceanographic features such as currents and tides or monitoring of marine life. Another key theme is the use of sound to solve geometric inverse problems for precise tracking of undersea vehicles. Audience: This volume should be useful both to the novice seeking an introduction to the field and to advanced researchers interested in the latest developments in acoustic sensing of the ocean environment. The workshop was sponsored by the Fundacao para a Ciecia e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology).
The ocean is transparent to sound where slight irregularities within the ocean cause sound fluctuations, and thus set limits on the many uses of sound in the ocean, similar to the limits imposed by the atmosphere on ground-based telescopes. This 1979 book attempts to connect the known structure of the ocean volume with experimental results in long-range sound transmission. Theories of wave propagation through irregular media, developed for optical and radio wave transmission are found to be inapplicable in many respects due to the complications of ocean structure, particularly the combination of anisotropy and 'sound channel'. The authors extend wave propagation theory to account for the ocean complications and introduces the path-integral approach to the solution of the strong-scattering regime that solves many long-standing problems. The book is written at the post-graduate level, but has been carefully organised to give experimenters a grasp of important results without undue mathematics.
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.
Seafloor investigation has long been a feature of not only seismology but also of acoustics. Indeed it was acoustics that produced depth sounders, giving us the first capability of producing both global and local maps of the seafloor. Subsequently, better instrumentation and techniques led to a clearer, more quantitative picture of the seabed itself, which stimulated new hypotheses such as seafloor spreading through the availability of more reliable data on sediment thickness over ocean basins and other bottom features. Geologists and geophysicists have used both acoustic and seismic methods to study the seabed by considering the propagation of signals arising from both natural seismic events and man-made impulsive sources. Although significant advances have been made in instrumentation, such as long towed geophysical arrays, ai r guns and ocean bot tom seismometers, the pic ture of the seafloor is still far from complete. Underwater acoustics concerns itself today with the phenomena of propagation and noise at frequencies and ranges that require an understanding of acoustic interaction at both of its boundaries, the sea surface and seafloor, over depths ranging from tens to thousands of meters. Much of the earlier higher frequency (>1 kHz) work included the characterization of the seafloor in regimes of reflection coefficients which were empirically derived from surveys. The results of these studies met with only limited success, confined as they were to those areas where survey data existed and lacking a physical understanding of the processes of reflection and scattering.
Did you know that the Grand Bank earthquake of 1929 triggered a huge submarine mass movement which broke submarine cables over a distance of up to 1000 km from its source and generated a tsunami which devastated a small village in Newfoundland killing 27 people? The same happened in Papua New Guinea in 1998 with more than 2000 casualties. Submarine mass movements of various sizes and styles are shaping the sea floor and are of concern for many facets of human activities both onshore and offshore. These include the development of natural resources, energy and communication transport, coastal infrastructures and communities. This book provides a world-wide perspective of submarine mass movements and their consequences. This has been made possible by assembling excellent contributions from active researchers, groups, or institutions, thus providing full coverage of the many scientific and engineering aspects of this type of marine and coastal geo-hazard. It covers fundamental as well as site specific studies from many areas including the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, inner seas like the Mediterranean Sea, and fjords using the most recent technologies from multibeam sonar imaging techniques, 3D seismic analysis, slope stability analysis, to debris flow and tsunami modeling. Audience: This book is of interest to any researcher in the field of marine and coastal geo-hazards. It will be useful for planners, scientists and engineers involved in the development of offshore and near-shore resources and also to those in charge of the management and mitigation of coastal hazards. For graduate students, this book provides an up-to-date vision of the process of submarine mass movements and their consequences from both a scientific and an engineering standpoint, and it includes a unique collection of the existing literature on marine geo-hazards. CD-Rom included
Opening Speech of the ICEDIVE 84 Conference by His Royal Highness Prince Bertil of Sweden I am very pleased to be invited to open the International Conference ICEDIVE 84, dealing with medical and technical problems of diving and related underwater activities in arctic conditions. Until recent times, the arctic was considered astrange and remote area of minor importance. However, in a world with diminishing natural resources, arctic areas have become a region of global importance because of their enormous resources and strategie position. Certain experts believe that more than 50% of oil reserves are "sleeping" in these northern areas which are cold, harsh and hostile to man. Operations in arctic areas are extremely difficult, expensive, and demand high levels of technical, scientific and physiological achievement. One should recall for example, that Alaskan oil investment onIy became economically viable after the 1973-1974 price explosion. Recent political/military troubles in the Gulf have increased interest in the development of polar resources. This conference is unique as it is the first time that medical and technical specialists interested in the problem of diving in arctic conditions have met in an international forum. Development of the arctic resources is a matter of international urgency, and it pleases me that scientists from the USA, Canada, the USSR, Australia and Europe have gathered here in Stockholm to present their experience and to discuss problems in this field.
This book grew out of lectures on geophysical fluid dynamics delivered over many years at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology by the author (and, with regard to some parts of the book, by his colleagues). During these lectures the students were advised to read many books, and sometimes individual articles, in order to acquaint themselves with the necessary material, since there was no single book available which provided a sufficiently complete and systematic account (except, perhaps, the volumes on Hydrophysics of the Ocean, Hydrodynamics of the Ocean, and Geodynamics in the ten-volume Oceanology series published by Nauka Press in 1978-1979; these refer, however, specifically to the ocean, and anyway they are much too massive to be convenient for study by students). As far as we know, no text corresponding to our understanding of geophysical fluid dynamics has as yet been published outside the Soviet Union. The present book is designed to fill this gap. Since it is customary to write the preface after the entire book has been completed, the author has an opportunity there to raise some points of possible criticism by the reviewers and readers. First of all, note that this work presents the theoretical fundamentals of geophysical fluid dynamics, and that observational and experimental data (which in the natural sciences are always very copious) are referred to only rarely and briefly.
There is now an awareness within the industry, particularly as oil companies direct considerable resources towards developing diverless production systems, that a fully integrated approach to equipment design and intervention is necessary to achieve an acceptable system. The requirement for an integrated approach to equipment design and intervention is applicable not only to diverless depths but to all subsea structures, equipment and intervention techniques in whatever depth. Fortunately the inherent dexterity of the diver does not impact so severely on design as other intervention techniques. However the benefits of an integrated approach are still applicable and the use of such simple "diver aids" as cutting guides and subsea markings installed prior to the installation of jackets and subsea equipment can have a significant impact on the cost of intervention. This paper examines the requirements and limitations in designing subsea equipment for Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) intervention. For the oil company embarking on the development of a diverless production system, be it totally diverless because of the envisaged water depth or primarily diverless with the possibility of diver back up, the intervention techniques adopted will strongly influence the final system design. The necessity to undertake an extensive development programme to produce the optimum intervention system is very costly, requires long lead times and comprehensive testing particularly where novel solutions are adopted. It is a daunting prospect for even the most progressive of oil companies.
It is a well-known faet, that both the geographie distribution and the speeiation of plankton are produets of the geologieal history of the oeeans, the eontinental barriers, the eurrent patterns and the limitation of survival of individual speeies and populations by both biotie and abiotie environmental eonditions. The geographie distribution is also the produet of the mobility of populations, the seleetive pressure and the time during whieh a taxon has existed. A taxon eonsists of a population, or a group of populations, suffieiently distinet to be provided with a name, to be ranked in a definite eategory and to establish a geographie distribution. Eaeh taxon forms part of biological evolution, and is therefore never sharply delimited in time. Aneestors always influenee the dispersal oftheir deseendants. Environmental eonditons exert a natural seleetive influenee on eaeh population, whieh results in the survival of the most adequately adapted pheno- and genotypes at a partieular plaee and during a partieular period. Consequently, seleetion determines the presenee of a phenotype, or taxon, in an area at a eertain moment. In this way, the environment determines the type of taxa, their abundanees, their seasonal ehanges and survival in time. In a broad sense, mobility of populations does not merely depend on migration and transport; reproduetion, mortality and population dynamies also influenee the mobility. In that sense, mobility eomprises all phenomena of movement, including the ehanges in number of speeimens present at a loeality.
When, in 1966, the Gennan Research Society directed the attention of oceanographers in the Federal Republic of Ger many to problems of marine pollution, I was not enthusiastic. Emphasis on this problem area meant that other important research plans had to be postponed. But the lectures at the Third International Oceanographic Congress, September 1970, in Tokyo, and at the FAO Conference on Marine Pollution and its Effects on Living Resources and Fishing, December 1970, in Rome, convinced me that research on problems of marine pollution is a social obligation, and that the oceanographer has to take a stand. I issued public warnings about the continuing use of pesticides and had to defend myself against protests by the fishing industry and many colleagues who were, in Novem ber 1970, unaware of the extent of the threat. Thus, I was required by my profession to acquire an overview of the prob lems of ocean pollution. In 1971 I only needed to familiarize myself with some one hundred bibliographical items. In the interim, the flood of data has risen dramatically, and in the year 1975, no fewer than 868 publications under the heading of "Marine Pollution" were reported (Table 1). It is, therefore, more and more diffi cult to distinguish new results of scientific research from the many repetitions and variations, and I fear that from year to year my efforts to illustrate the actual status of the problem at a given moment will be subject to more gaps."
It is now nine years since the first edition appeared and much has changed in marine science during that time. For example, satellites are now routinely used in remote sensing of the ocean surface and hydrothermal vents at sea noor spreading centres have been extensively researched. The second edition has been considerably expanded and reorganised, and many new figures and tables have been included. Every chapter has been carefully updated and many have been rewritten. A new chapter on man's use of the oceans has been included to cover satellites and position fixing, renewable energy sources in the sea, seabed minerals, oil and gas, pollution and maritime law. In this edition we have also referred to a number of original references and review articles so that readers can find their way into the literature more easily. As in the first edition, PSM has been mainly responsible for the text and HC for the illustrations, although each has responded to advice from the other and also from many colleagues. In this context readers should note that the illustrations form an integral and major part of the book. The text will almost certainly be too concise for many readers if they do not study the illustrations carefully at the same time. The book has been written as an introductory text for students, although it can serve anyone who is beginning a study of the sea.
Solid-solution equilibria of marine evaporites are important in a wide range of science and technology. However, the data had not yet been summarized in a form that is at the same time comprehensive and permits to understand how the quinary seawater system builds up from its bounding systems. Thus the goal of the present volume is at the same time scientific and educational. The understanding of solid-solution equilibria of the various systems with respect to dissolution, precipitation and transformation of solids, their application to the evolution of brines, and a fast access to data is a necessary requirement for any modelling, especially in Geoscience. Another goal is to show the avail ability of data. Unfortunately, though solubility data are numereous there are substantial gaps, especially with respect to high temperatures. But also up to about 100 0 C data are missing for some of the systems so that they cannot be described entirely. Based on the present volume further work on the solubili ties of the minerals of marine evaporites may be promoted. The data have been viewed and collected over several years by the first author. The second author entered the preparation of the volume when it was realized that besides graphics and tables a fast access to data was required. Although both authors are responsible for the whole volume, responsibility is weighted somewhat differently for the various parts."
The impetus for the conference held at Bombannes, France in May, 1982 arose out of a Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group on "Mathematical Models in Biological Oceanography." This group was chaired by K.H. Mann and held two meetings in 1977 and 1979. At both meetings it was felt that, although reductionist modelling of marine ecosystems had achieved some successes, the future progress lay in the development of holistic ecosystem models. The members of the group (K.H. Mann, T. Platt, J.M. Colebrook, D.F. Smith, M.J.R. Fasham, J. Field, G. Radach, R.E. Ulanowicz and F. Wulff) produced a critical review of reductionist and holistic models which was published by the Unesco Press (Platt, Mann and Ulanowicz, 1981). One of the conclusions of this review was that, whether holistic or reductionist models are preferred, it is critically important to increase the scientific effort in the measurement of physiological rates for the computation of ecological fluxes. The Working Group therefore recommended that an international meeting should be organized which would attempt to bring together theoretical ecologists and biological oceanographers to assess the present and future capability for measuring ecological fluxes and incorporating these data into models. An approach was made to the Marine Sciences Panel of the NATO Science Committee who expressed an interest in funding such a meeting. They awarded a planning grant and a planning group was formed consisting of M.J.R. Fasham, M.V. Angel, T. Platt, R.E.
Primary productivity in the sea accounts for 30% of the total global annual production. Holistic understanding of the factors determining marine productivity requires detailed knowl edge of algal physiology and of hydrodynamics. Traditionally studies of aquatic primary productivity have heen conducted hy workers in two major schools: experimental laboratory biology, and empirical field ecology. Here an attempt was made .to hring together people from both schools to share information and con cepts; each author was charged with reviewing his field of exoer tise. The scope of the Symposium is broad, which we feel is its strength. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Depart ment of Energy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the NMFS Northeast Fisheries Center and the MESA New York Bight Project. Thanks are due to Mrs. Margaret Dienes, with out whose editorial skills this volume could not have been pro duced, and to Mrs. Helen Kondratuk as Symposium Coordinator. Finally, we wish to record our indebtedness to Dr. Alexander Hollaender for his tireless efforts and valuable advice in sup porting all aspects of this Symposium."
Paleoceanography is the science dealing with the history of the oceans. Originally published in 1985, this book describes what had been found out during the previous decade about the past 100 million years of the history of the South Atlantic Ocean, thanks largely to drilling by Glomar Challenger during five expeditions in 1980. Palaeotemperature studies provided a history of climatic variations, geochemistry of carbon isotopes provided information on fertility of planktonic organisms and the intensity of oceanic overturns, while correlation of sediment character to changes in oceanic chemistry and fertility permitted interpretations of the variation of the level at which fossil skeletons became dissolved. All the authors were experts and most took part in the 1980 expeditions to the South Atlantic. This book brought together the results of the major discoveries in one volume and was the first modern regional synthesis of ocean history.
The oceans are vast with t, Yo-thirds of our planet being covered by a thick layer of water, the depth of which can be likened to flying above the earth's surface at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,800 m). Good to play in, essential for life but deadly to breathe, water is important to all organisms on the planet, and the oceans form its major reservoir containing approximately 97 per cent of all freely available surface water. In spite of this obvious importance mankind has still much to learn about this ocean environment. Study of the oceans has grown enormously since the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century voyages of scientific discovery, expanding greatly in the period post 1945. One of the subjects that has blossomed in this period has been the study of the ocean's surface, and in particular the study of sea level and related sea-surface changes. Indeed this topic may even be termed 'popular', as reflected in the growing number of general geo morphology, physical geology and oceanography texts which now give space to the subject."
Everyone working in a problem as complex as continental drift, must at some time have feit the need for an objective data summary in fields other than his own. It is a scientific dilemma that, aIthough there is evident need for researchers with competence in many fields (the classical natural scientist), the time in volved in acquiring such broad experience is so great as to ren der the task largely impossible. The alternative seems to be the team approach, and we have espoused it in tbis volume. Editors and contributors alike have tried in this book to keep the accent upon factual information and to reduce interpretation to a minimum. Interpretation there must be, however, since without it science is but an inteHectual pastime comparable to pbilately. The librarian's need to classify results in the appearance of our names upon the spine oftbis volume, however, we would like to make it clear that the book has been a truly cooperative effort and could not have succeeded but for the active help of the individual contributors, whose assistance seldom was re stricted to their chapters. Special thanks must be given to our South American coHeagues, for the tolerance with which they viewed out editorial attempts, and to Dr. E. Machens, for his careful review of the translation of his manu script. We wish also to acknowledge the help of Dr. C. W."
Curtis Ebbesmeyer is no ordinary scientist. He's been a consulting oceanographer for multinational firms and a lead scientist on international research expeditions, but he's never held a conventional academic appointment. He seized the world's imagination as no ordinary scientist could when he and his worldwide network of beachcomber volunteers traced the ocean's currents using thousands of sneakers and plastic bath toys spilled from storm-tossed freighters. Now, for the first time, Ebbesmeyer tells the story of his lifelong struggle to solve the sea's mysteries, and shares his most surprising discoveries. He recounts how flotsam has changed the course of history-leading Viking mariners to safe harbours, Columbus to the New World, and Japan to open up to the West - and how it may even have made the origin of life possible. He explores the vast floating garbage patches and waste-heaped junk beaches that collect the flotsam and jetsam of industrial society. Finally, he reveals the music-like mathematical order in oceanic gyres and the threats that global warming and disintegrating plastic waste pose to the seas ...and to us.
My work Geochemistry oj organic matter in the ocean first appeared in Russian in 1978. Since then much progress has been made in the exploration of various forms of organic matter in the ocean: dissolved, colloidal, organic matter sus pended in particles and that contained in bottom sediments and in interstitial waters. The appropriate evidence is found in hundreds of articles and several re view works, such as Andersen (1977), Biogeochimie de [a matiere organique a ['interjace eau-sedimentmarine (1980), Duursma and Dawson (1981). A great amount of new information has been obtained in the Soviet Union's scientific institutions on the composition and distribution in natural waters and bottom sediments of organic matter and its separate components playing a crucial role in the formation of the chemical and biological structure of the ocean and its productivity, in the biogeochemistry of the elements and geochemistry of organic matter in the Earth's sedimentary cover. The areas of exploration have expanded over the past four-and-a-half years to embrace many new, little-known regions, including the Arctic seas. In contrast to the three preceeding decades, the research has been focused on investigating the existing forms, the distribution and accumulation of organic matter in near continental oceanic zones between land and sea, and in river estuaries.
Deep-sea manganese nodules, once an obscure scientific curios ity, have, in the brief span of two decades, become a potential mineral resource of major importance. Nodules that cover the sea floor of the tropical North Pacific may represent a vast ore de posit of manganese, nickel, cobalt, and copper. Modern technology has apparently surmounted the incredible problem of recovering nodules in water depths of 5000 meters and the extraction of metals from the complex chemical nodule matrix is a reality. Both the recovery and the extraction appear to be economically feasible. Exploitation of this resource is, however, hindered more by the lack of an international legal structure allowing for recognition of mining sites and exploitation rights, than by any other factor. Often, when a mineral deposit becomes identified as an ex ploitable resource, scientific study burgeons. Interest in the nature and genesis of the deposit increases and much is learned from large scale exploration. The case is self evident for petrol eum and ore deposits on land. The study of manganese nodules is just now entering this phase. What was the esoteric field of a few scientists has become the subject of active exploration and research by most of the industrialized nations. Unfortunately for our general understanding of manganese nodules, exploration results remain largely proprietary. However, scientific study has greatly increased and the results are becoming widely available."
The fragile Antarctic environment consists of a closely linked system of the lithosphere, atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. Changes in this system have influenced global climate, oceanography and sea level for most of Cenozoic time. The geological history of this region therefore provides a special record of important interactions among the various components of the Earth System. Antarctic Marine Geology is the first comprehensive single-authored book to introduce students and researchers to the geological history of the region and the unique processes that occur there. Research literature on the region is widely disseminated, and until now no single reference has existed that provides such a summary. The book is intended as a reference for all scientists working in Antarctica, and will also serve as a textbook for graduate courses in Antarctic marine geology.
"Data Analysis Methods in Physical Oceanography, Third Edition"
is a practical reference to established and modern data analysis
techniques in earth and ocean sciences. Its five major sections
address data acquisition and recording, data processing and
presentation, statistical methods and error handling, analysis of
spatial data fields, and time series analysis methods. The revised
"Third Edition" updates the instrumentation used to collect and
analyze physical oceanic data and adds new techniques including
Kalman Filtering. Additionally, the sections covering spectral,
wavelet, and harmonic analysis techniques are completely revised
since these techniques have attracted significant attention over
the past decade as more accurate and efficient data gathering and
analysis methods. |
You may like...
Preparing a Workforce for the New Blue…
Liesl Hotaling, Richard W. Spinrad
Paperback
R3,229
Discovery Miles 32 290
World Seas: An Environmental Evaluation…
Charles Sheppard
Paperback
Introductory Dynamical Oceanography
Stephen Pond, George L. Pickard
Paperback
R1,346
Discovery Miles 13 460
Cape Cod Bay - A History of Salt & Sea
Theresa Mitchell Barbo
Paperback
|