Research of the origins of life in connection with a marine environment started at the end of the seventies, when the black smokers' in the Pacific were discovered and the Red Sea deep hydrothermal brines were found to be a fruitful environment for abiotic synthesis of life precursors. For a while this research was categorised under the heading chemistry', but in less than a decade the topic became fully integrated into the science of 'oceanography'. The Scientific Committee on Oceanographic Research (SCOR) initiated Working Group 91: Chemical Evolution and Origin of Life in Marine Hydrothermal Systems'. This volume contains the final report of this working group.

The Eighty-Second National Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from August 29 through September 1, 1976, had as one of its themes the topic of transport processes. One of the sessions related to this theme was "Transport Processes in the Oceans" chaired by R. P. Shaw and R. J. Gibbs. This session was devoted to the study of transport processes and their hydrodynamic modeling in large water bodies such as oceans and lakes; transport of both dissolved and solid material was con sidered. The interest developed at the session led to the conclu sion that the papers presented there should be published as a set rather than dispersed among the various technical journals that rep resent the wide variety of technical affiliations of the authors. This variety, in fact, is typical of this particular field with con tributors identified as chemical engineers, civil engineers, environ mental engineers, mechanical engineers, oceanographers and applied mechanicians to name just a few. Such an interdisciplinary area re quires more effort in keeping abreast of developments than do the traditional areas, since new material may be developed and presented in a wide range of technical journals and professional meetings."

Experts in the field offer the first comprehensive review of the tectonics and magmatism of backarc basins, covering their initial rift stage to mature spreading. Complete with numerous illustrations, each of the twelve chapters focuses on a young, active backarc basin of the circum-Pacific-where volcano-tectonic processes are best studied because of their activity. Key themes in this volume include volcano-tectonics setting; cause and location; rift magmas; and hydrothermal activity. Researchers also present models of the dynamic processes occurring in backarc basins.

The vast majority of the world's lakes are small in size and short lived in geological terms. Only 253 of the thousands of lakes on this planet have surface areas larger than 500 square kilometers. At first sight, this statistic would seem to indicate that large lakes are relatively unimportant on a global scale; in fact, however, large lakes contain the bulk of the liquid surface freshwater of the earth. Just Lake Baikal and the Laurentian Great Lakes alone contain more than 38% of the world's total liquid freshwater. Thus, the large lakes of the world accentuate an important feature of the earth's freshwater reserves-its extremely irregular distribution. The energy crisis of the 1970s and 1980s made us aware of the fact that we live on a spaceship with finite, that is, exhaustible resources. On the other hand, the energy crisis led to an overemphasis on all the issues concerning energy supply and all the problems connected with producing new energy. The energy crisis also led us to ignore strong evidence suggesting that water of appropriate quality to be used as a resouce will be used up more quickly than energy will. Although in principle water is a "renewable resource," the world's water reserves are diminishing in two fashions, the effects of which are multiplicative: enhanced consumption and accelerated degradation of quality.

For some time there has existed an extensive theoretical literature relating to tides on continental shelves and also to the behavior of estuaries. Much less attention was traditionally paid to the dynamics of longer term, larger scale motions (those which are usually described as circulation') over continental shelves or in enclosed shallow seas such as the North American Great Lakes. This is no longer the case: spurred on by other disciplines, notably biological oceanography, and by public concern with the environment, the physical science of the coastal ocean has made giant strides during the last two decades or so. Today, it is probably fair to say that coastal ocean physics has come of age as a deduc tive quantitative science. A well developed body of theoretical models exist, based on the equations of fluid motion, which have been related to observed currents, sea level variations, water properties, etc. Quantitative parameters required in using the models to predict e.g. the effects of wind or of freshwater influx on coastal currents can be estimated within reasonable bounds of error. While much remains to be learned, and many exciting discoveries presumably await us in the future, the time seems appropriate to summarize those aspects of coastal ocean dynamics relevant to 'circulation' or long term motion.

Sediments and Environmental Geochemistry is dedicated to Professor German Muller on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The individual articles, written by outstanding scientists, cover a wide range of subjects indicating the broad spectrum of his interests. The main topics are: Carbonate and Evaporite Petrology, Petroleum Formation and Exploration, Environmental Geochemistry, Coal Petrography, Data Bases in Geosciences, and Volcanology.

This preface is being written at a time of exceptional public interest in the North Sea, following media head lines on toxic algal blooms, the mass mortality of common seals, and concern over pollution levels. These headlines may suggest that pollution of the North Sea is a recent event. This is not the case. Although no data are available (methods simply did not exist), it is safe to assume that emission (both into air and water) of heavy metals already started to increase in the 19th cen tury. The growth of cities and introduction of sewer sys tems led to the discharge of raw sewage and sewage sludge. The introduction of man-made (xenobiotic) organ ic chemicals and their subsequent emission into the North Sea commenced before the second world war. The shallower and coastal areas of the North Sea receive the highest concentrations of these pollutants. Not unexpectedly, these areas - some Norwegian fjords, the Dutch coast, the German Bight - show signs of ecosystem deterioration and eutrophication. A certain percentage of the pollutants does not remain in the North Sea but is "exported" to the Atlantic. The North Sea therefore con tributes to the global input of pollutants to the world's oceans. The major part of the pollutants accumulate in the North Sea and are incorporated in the bottom sediments. Although they are "out of sight," they should not be "out of mind.""

For the centennial of the birth of "Silent Spring" author Rachel Carson, a new edition of her groundbreaking paean to the sea
Celebrating the mystery and beauty of birds and sea creatures in their natural habitat, "Under the Sea-Wind"-Rachel Carson's first book and her personal favorite-is the early masterwork of one of America's greatest nature writers. Evoking the special mystery and beauty of the shore and the open sea-its limitless vistas and twilight depths-Carson's astonishingly intimate, unforgettable portrait captures the delicate negotiations of an ingeniously calibrated ecology.

This book is a natural extension of the SCOPE (Scientific Committee of Problems on the Environment) volumes on the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S) biogeochemical cycles and their interactions (Likens, 1981; Bolin and Cook, 1983). Substantial progress in the knowledge of these cycles has been made since publication of those volumes. In particular, the nature and extent of biological and inorganic interactions between these cycles have been identified, positive and negative feedbacks recognized and the relationship between the cycles and global environmental change preliminarily elucidated. In March 1991, a NATO Advanced Research Workshop was held for one week in Melreux, Belgium to reexamine the biogeochemical cycles of C, N, P and S on a variety of time and space scales from a holistic point of view. This book is the result of that workshop. The biogeochemical cycles of C, N, P and S are intimately tied to each other through biological productivity and subsequently to problems of global environmental change. These problems may be the most challenging facing humanity in the 21 st century. In the broadest sense, "global change" encompasses both changes to the status of the large, globally connected atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial environments (e. g. tropospheric temperature increase) and change occurring as the result of nearly simultaneous local changes in many regions of the world (e. g. eutrophication).

Metals in the hydrological cycle represent a very broad subject covering all parts of the geological cycle. The present version of this book, therefore, would not have been possible without the comments and suggestions for improvement on draft ver- sions of the various chapters by a large number of colleagues. We wish to express our gratitude to: P.A. Cawse (AERE, UK), J.N. Galloway (University of Virginia, USA) and S.E. Lindberg (Oak Ridge National Labo- ratory, USA) for reviewing the chapter on atmospheric trace metals. G. Batley (CSIRO, Australia) and B.T. Hart (Chisholm In- stitute of Technology, Australia) for reviewing the chapter on speciation of dissolved metals. E.K. Duursma (Delta Institute, The Netherlands), J.M. Bewers and P.H. Yeats (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada) and D. Eisma (Netherlands Institute for Sea Re- search, the Netherlands) for reviewing the chapter on estuaries. P. Baccini (EAWAG, Switzerland) and W. Davison (Fresh- water Biological Association, UK) for reviewing the chapter on lakes. E.T. Degens (University of Hamburg, W-Germany) for re- viewing the chapter on the oceans, and J.P. Al (Public Works Department, The Netherlands) for reviewing most of the indi- vidual chapters. Without the collaboration of these colleagues this book would not have been possible in its present form.

Improvements in the design process as applied to ocean structures have received intense interest in recent years. Part of this interest stems from the growing realization that design on a purely deterministic basis is inadequate for structures sub ject to random loads, which are best described by statistical (or probability) methods. This book is an attempt to bridge the gap between present design practices and available analytical techni ques (which may be exploited to improve present procedures). The book itself is an outgrowth of a set of notes prepared for an intensive short course presented over the past three years by the Engineering Extension Division of the University of California at Los Angeles, California. The ensuing presentation is composed of four parts. The material begins with a review of the physical environment (winds, surface gravity water waves and currents) for which engineering type formulations are presented. Hindcasting and forecasting techniques using spectral concepts are included. Special problem areas are enumerated."

Sandstone Petroleum Reservoirs presents an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to the geology of sandstone oil and gas reservoirs. Twenty-two case studies involving a variety of depositional settings, tectonic provinces, and burial/diagenetic histories emphasize depositional controls on reservoir architecture, petrophysical properties, and production performance. An introductory section provides perspective to the nature of reservoir characterization and highlights the important questions that future studies need to address. A "reservoir summary" following each case study aids the reader in gaining quick access to the main characteristics of each reservoir. This casebook is heavily illustrated, and most data have not been previously published. The intended audience comprises a broad range of practicing earth scientists, including petroleum geologists, geophysicists, and engineers. Readers will value the integration of geological versus engineering interests provided here, and will be enabled to improve exploration and production results.

Estuaries, bays and contiguous coastal seas are the world's most valuable, and yet most vulnerable marine ecosystems. Fundamental to the protection and management of these important resources is an understand- ing of the physical processes involved which affect the circulation, mixing, and transport of salt, nutrients and sediment. Residual Currents and Long-Term Transport processes appear to have direct control over freshwater inflows, contaminant loadings, dispersion and transport of sediments and nutrients, and causes of declining living resources. This volume provides a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of the research results on these processes in estuaries and bays. Contributions from ten countries include results based on theoretical formulations, analyses of field data, numerical models and case studies.

Lorsqu'il n'est pas en notre pouvoir de discerner les plus vraies opinions, nous devons suivre les plus pro babies. -Rene Descartes When, in the early 1960's I undertook to covered, due to limitations imposed by a single study Arctic Ocean deep-sea cores, I did not volume. anticipate that 10 years later the climatic history Although not comprehensive, it is hoped that of the north polar basin would be still a matter of this book will provide an insight into the current debate. Although much new data have accumu- status of Arctic research and will also serve as a lated in various fields of Arctic geology and reference for investigators studying the Arctic and oceanography during the past decade, many ques- subarctic seas. tions remain to be answered. The paleo-oceanog- It is with pleasure that I acknowledge the raphy and the past atmospheric circulatory pat- following people for helping in various ways terns are still open to controversy, as are the during the preparation of this book: Philip E. structure and evolution of the crust beneath this Rosenberg, David M. Hopkins, C. Hans Nelson, ocean; furthermore, the origin and mode of dis- Horace G. Richards, Richard C. Allison, Peter persal of sediments is still not fully understood. Barnes, Edwin C. Buffington, Joe S. Creager, The current status of many of these problems is D. A. McManus, Joseph H. Kravitz, G. Vilks, discussed in the present volume. Thomas D. Hamilton, Ronald J. Echols, G. D.

In this book, the methodology of dynamical systems theory is applied to investigate the physics of the global ocean circulation. Topics include the dynamics of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, the stability of the thermohaline circulation and the El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon in the Tropical Pacific. On the other hand, the book also deals with the numerical methods for applying bifurcation analysis on large dimensional dynamical systems, with thousands or more degrees of freedom, which arise through discretization of ocean models. The novel approach in understanding the phenomena of climate variability is through a systematic analysis within a hierarchy of models using these techniques. In this way, a nice overview is obtained of the relations between the results of the different models within the hierarchy. Mechanistic description of the physics of the results is provided and, where possible, links with results of state-of-the-art models and observations are sought. The reader is expected to have a background in basic incompressible fluid dynamics and applied mathematics, although the level of the text is mixed and sometimes quite introductory. Each chapter is rather self-contained and many details of derivations are provided. The book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in meteorology, oceanography, and related fields who are interested in tackling fundamental problems in dynamical oceanography and climate dynamics.

The international tsunami symposium convened by the Tsunami Commission of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics was held during May 25-28, 1981 at Send ai, Of un a to and Kamaishi, North East Honshu, Japan. This symposium was organized by the Japanese National Committee for the Organization of International Tsunami Symposium, 1981. The opening and closing ceremonies of the symposium were held at Sendai and Kamaishi, respectively, and eight sessions at Sendai and two sessions at Of una to were arranged. About 140 scientists and engineers including accompanied persons from ten countries participated to make the symposium a great success. In all, 55 papers were submitted prior to the opening of the symposium, of which 54 papers being orally presented, were arranged in ten sessions: Tsunami source and earthquake, warning system Tsunami waves and spectra Tsunami potential estimation Theoretical arguments on tsunami waves Tsunami generation and numerical simulation of historical tsunamis Harbor oscillations by long waves and tsunamis (1) Tsunami run up Mitigation of tsunami hazards and socio-economic effects Harbor oscillations by long waves and tsunamis (2) Historical study of tsunamis. Besides, two special popular lectures were provided for about 800 citizens in the Sanriku coastal area at Of una to Nokyo Kaikan, where the 1960 Chilean tsunami caused great destructive damages. The title of the first lecture was on the 1960 Chilean Earthquake and Tsunami by Dr.

This volume is based on the proceedings of the COSPAR/SCOR/ IUCRM Symposium "Oceanography From Space" held in May 1980 in Venice, Italy. COSPAR (The Committee for Space Research) suggested holding a joint symposium with SCOR (The Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research) as a major review of space oceanography. Since this meeting fitted well with a series of colloquia organized by the IUCRM (The Inter-Union Commission on Radio Meteorology), these three bodies joined in sponsoring the meeting. The conference was hald 16 years after the first discussions of possible spaceborne observations of the ocean at a meeting organized in 1964 in Woods Hole. Gifford'Ewing was then keen to see oceanography benefit from the new satellite technology being developed, and he begins this volume by noting that most of the suggestions put forward in 1964 have now, at last, been successfully demonstrated in practice. The papers that follow show the variety of measurement techniques available or possible, and many of the types of studies in which they can be used. Papers are arranged in a general section, and in 6 specialized sections each of which starts with a brief introduction summarizing important results.

In this paper differences and anomalies in west coast seasonal flow structures have been highlighted. In particular, it was emphasized that flow off Washington has significant differences from that of Oregon; namely, during summer, flow at mid-shelf is more poleward off Washington, and during winter, flow on the inner-shelf is more equatorward off Washington than off Oregon. The former result may be related to the poleward decrease in the longshelf wind stress; the latter result may be related to the presence of the Columbia River plume. Off southern California the near-surface flow over the shelf is more persistently equatorward than that off Washington . Conversely, the flow over the slope in the upper 100 m of the water column is more persistently poleward than that off washington. Also, the undercurrent structure, that is, a subsurface maximum, is maintained at least from summer to early winter off southern California (no data are yet available from spring), but only during summer and early fall off washington. We note that the seasonal cycle of vertical shear in the two locations is similar, although a reversal in sign sometimes occurs off Washington. ACKNOWLEDGEMZNTS This work was supported by the Department of Energy under Grant DE-FG05-85ER60333t4 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant OCE 86-01058#1. 175 From: Adriana Huyer, College of Oceanography, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. On: Review and Commentary to paper POLEWARD FLOW NEAR TRE NORTRERH AND SOU'l'BERH BOONDARIES OF TRE U. S. WEST COAST, by Barbara Hickey.

The phenomenon of evaporation in the natural environment is of interest in various diverse disciplines. This book is an attempt to present a coherent and organized introduction to theoretical concepts and relationships useful in analyzing this phe nomenon, and to give an outline of their history and their application. The main objective is to provide a better understanding of evaporation, and to connect some of the approaches and paradigms, that have been developed in different disciplines concerned with this phenomenon. The book is intended for professional scientists and engineers, who are active in hydrology, meteorology, agronomy, oceanography, climatology and related environ mental fields, and who wish to study prevailing concepts on evaporation. At the same time, I hope that the book will be useful to workers in fluid dynamics, who want to become acquainted with applications to an important and interesting natural phenomenon. As suggested in its subtitle, the book consists of three major parts. The first, consisting of Chapters I and 2, gives a general ouline of the problem and a history of the theories of evaporation from ancient times through the end of the nineteenth century. This history is far from exhaustive, but it sket hes the background and the ideas that led directly to the scientific revolution in Europe and, ultimately, to our present-day knowledge."

During the 1980's a wealth of information was reported from field and laboratory experiments in order to validate andlor modify various aspects of the surface layer Monin-Obukhov (M-O) similarity theory for use over the sea, and to introduce and test new concepts related to high resolution flux magnitudes and variabilities. For example, data from various field experiments conducted on the North Sea, Lake Ontario, and the Atlantic experiments, among others, yielded information on the dependence of the flux coefficients on wave state. In all field projects, the usual criteria for satisfying M-O similarity were applied. The assumptions of stationarity and homogeneity was assumed to be relevant over both small and large scales. In addition, the properties of the outer layer were assumed to be "correlated" with properties of the surface layer. These assumptions generally required that data were averaged for spatial footprints representing scales greater than 25 km (or typically 30 minutes or longer for typical windspeeds). While more and more data became available over the years, and the technology applied was more reliable, robust, and durable, the flux coefficients and other turbulent parameters still exhibited significant unexplained scatter. Since the scatter did not show sufficient reduction over the years to meet customer needs, in spite of improved technology and heavy financial investments, one could only conclude that perhaps the use of similarity theory contained too many simplifications when applied to environments which were more complicated than previously thought.

This monograph creates a systematic interpretation of the theoretical and the most actual experimental aspects of the internal wave dynamics in the ocean. Firstly, it draws attention to the important physical effects from an oceanographical point of view which are presented in mathematical descriptions. Secondly, the book serves as an introduction to the range of modern ideas and the methods in the study of wave processes in dispersive media.
The book is meant for specialists in physics of the ocean, oceanography, geophysics, hydroacoustics.

estimate tsunami potential by computing seismic moment. This system holds promise for a new generation of local tsunami warning systems. Shuto (Japan) described his conversion of !ida's definition of tsunami magnitude to local tsunami efforts. For example, i l = 2 would equal 4 m local wave height, which would destroy wooden houses and damage most fishing boats. SimOes (Portugal) reported on a seamount-based seismic system that was located in the tsunami source area for Portugal. In summary, the risk of tsunami hazard appears to be more widespread than the Pacific Ocean Basin. It appears that underwater slumps are an important component in tsunami generation. Finally, new technologies are emerging that would be used in a new generation of tsunami warning systems. These are exciting times for tsunami researchers. OBSERVATIONS TSUNAMI DISPERSION OBSERVED IN THE DEEP OCEAN F. I. GONZALEZl and Ye. A. KULIKOV2 Ipacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA 7600 Sand Point Way, N. E. , Seattle, W A 98115 USA 2State Oceanographic Institute Kropotkinskey per. 6 Moscow 119034, Russia CIS The amplitude and frequency modulation observed in bottom pressure records of the 6 March 1988 Alaskan Bight tsunami are shown to be due to dispersion as predicted by linear wave theory. The simple wave model developed for comparison with the data is also consistent with an important qualitative feature of the sea floor displacement pattern which is predicted by a seismic fault plane deformation model, i. e. the existence of a western-subsidence/eastern-uplift dipole.

During the Conference on Air-Sea Interaction in January 1986, it was suggested to me by David Larner of Reidel Press that it may be timely for an updated compendium of air-sea interaction theory to be organized, developed, and published. Many new results were emerging at the time, i.e., results from the MARSEN, MASEX, MILDEX, and TOWARD field projects (among others) were in the process of being reported and/or published. Further, a series of new experiments such as FASINEX and HEXOS were soon to be conducted in which new strides in our knowledge of air-sea fluxes would be made. During the year following the discussions with David Larner, it became apparent that many of the advances in air-sea interaction theory during the 1970s and 1980s were associated with sponsor investments in satellite oceanography and, in particular, remote sensing research. Since ocean surface remote sensing, e.g., scatterometry and SAR, requires intimate knowledge of ocean surface dynamics, advances in remote sensing capabilities required coordinated research in air-sea fluxes, wave state, scattering theory, sensor design, and data exploitation using environmental models. Based on this interplay of disciplines, it was decided that this book be devoted to air sea interaction and remote sensing as multi-disciplinary activities.

In December 1994 Professor Enok Palm celebrated his 70th birthday and retired after more than forty years of service at the University of Oslo. In view of his outstanding achievements as teacher and scientist a symposium entitled "Waves and Nonlinear Processes in Hydrodynamics" was held in his honour from the 17th to the 19th November 1994 in the locations of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Oslo. The topics of the symposium were chosen to cover Enok's broad range of scientific work, interests and accomplishments: Marine hydrodynamics, nonlinear wave theory, nonlinear stability, thermal convection and geophys ical fluid dynamics, starting with Enok's present activity, ending with the field where he began his career. This order was followed in the symposium program. The symposium had two opening lectures. The first looked back on the history of hydrodynamic research at the University of Oslo. The second focused on applications of hydrodynamics in the offshore industry today.

Uncertainty for Everyone The one thing that is certain about the world is that the world is uncertain. I have here, the question that apart of the matter, living matter, has to resolve in each and every one of its moments of existance. The environment of a living being is apart of the living being where it turns out, the rest of the living beings live. This is the drama of life on earth. Every living individual debates with his environment, exchanging matter, energy and information in the hope of staying alive, the same as all living beings who share that same environment. The adven ture of a living being (of all living beings ) is to maintain reasonable independ ence in face ofthe fluctuations ofuncertainty within the environment. The range of restrictions and mutual relationships is colossal. How is the tran seendental pretension of staying alive regulated? There is an equation imposed by the laws ofthermodynamics and the mathematical theory ofinformation about the interaction ofa living being with his environment which we could state like this: The complexity 01 a living individual plus his capacity for anticipation in re spect to his environment is identical to the uncertainty of the environmentplus the capacity of that living being to change the environment."