This book uses the Lagrangian approach, especially useful and convenient for studying large-scale transport and mixing in the ocean, to present a detailed view of ocean circulation. This approach focuses on simulations and on monitoring the trajectories of fluid particles, which are governed by advection equations. The first chapter of the book is devoted to dynamical systems theory methods, which provide the framework, methodology and key concepts for the Lagrangian approach. The book then moves on to an analysis of chaotic mixing and cross-stream transport in idealized models of oceanic meandering currents like the Gulfstream in the Atlantic, the Kuroshio in the Pacific, and Antarctic Circumpolar Current, after which the current state of physical oceanography is reviewed. The latter half of the book applies the techniques and methods already described in order to study eddies, currents, fronts and large-scale mixing and transport in the Far-Eastern seas and the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of Lagrangian simulation and monitoring of water contamination after the Fukushima disaster of 2011. The propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides, surface transport across the Kuroshio Extension current, and the role of mesoscale eddies in the transport of Fukushima-derived cesium isotopes in the ocean are examined, and a comparison of simulation results with actual measurements are presented.Written by some of the world leaders in the application of Lagrangian methods in oceanography, this title will be of benefit to the oceanographic community by presenting the necessary background of the Lagrangian approach in an accessible manner.

This book uses the Lagrangian approach, especially useful and convenient for studying large-scale transport and mixing in the ocean, to present a detailed view of ocean circulation. This approach focuses on simulations and on monitoring the trajectories of fluid particles, which are governed by advection equations. The first chapter of the book is devoted to dynamical systems theory methods, which provide the framework, methodology and key concepts for the Lagrangian approach. The book then moves on to an analysis of chaotic mixing and cross-stream transport in idealized models of oceanic meandering currents like the Gulfstream in the Atlantic, the Kuroshio in the Pacific, and Antarctic Circumpolar Current, after which the current state of physical oceanography is reviewed. The latter half of the book applies the techniques and methods already described in order to study eddies, currents, fronts and large-scale mixing and transport in the Far-Eastern seas and the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of Lagrangian simulation and monitoring of water contamination after the Fukushima disaster of 2011. The propagation of Fukushima-derived radionuclides, surface transport across the Kuroshio Extension current, and the role of mesoscale eddies in the transport of Fukushima-derived cesium isotopes in the ocean are examined, and a comparison of simulation results with actual measurements are presented.Written by some of the world leaders in the application of Lagrangian methods in oceanography, this title will be of benefit to the oceanographic community by presenting the necessary background of the Lagrangian approach in an accessible manner.

A systematic study of chaotic ray dynamics in underwater acoustic waveguides began in the mid-1990s when it was realized that this factor plays a crucial role in long-range sound propagation in the ocean. The phenomenon of ray chaos and its manifestation at a finite wavelength - wave chaos - have been investigated by combining methods from the theory of wave propagation and the theory of dynamical and quantum chaos.This book is the first monograph summarizing results obtained in this field. Emphasis is made on the exploration of ray and modal structures of the wave field in an idealized environmental model with periodic range dependence and in a more realistic model with sound speed fluctuations induced by random internal waves. The book is intended for acousticians investigating the long-range sound transmission through the fluctuating ocean and also for researchers studying waveguide propagation in other media. It will be of major interest to scientists working in the field of dynamical and quantum chaos.