Our oceans are hugely important, as a source of food and mineral wealth, as an environment for a vast variety of wildlife, for the role they play in climate regulation, and as part of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements critical to life. Dorrik Stow explores what we know about how oceans originate and are maintained.

Ocean Dynamics’ is a concise introduction to the fundamentals of fluid mechanics, non-equilibrium thermodynamics and the common approximations for geophysical fluid dynamics, presenting a comprehensive approach to large-scale ocean circulation theory. The book is written on the physical and mathematical level of graduate students in theoretical courses of physical oceanography, meteorology and environmental physics. An extensive bibliography and index, extensive side notes and recommendations for further reading, and a comparison with the specific atmospheric physics where applicable, makes this volume also a useful reading for researchers. Each of the four parts of the book – fundamental laws, common approximations, ocean waves, oceanic turbulence and eddies, and selected aspects of ocean dynamics – starts with elementary considerations, blending then classical topics with more advanced developments of fluid mechanics and theoretical oceanography. The last part covers the theory of the global wind-driven circulation in homogeneous and stratified regimes, the circulation and overturning in the Southern Ocean, and the global meridional overturning and thermohaline-driven circulation. Emphasis is placed on simple physical models rather than access to extensive numerical results, enabling students to understand and reproduce the complex theory mostly by analytical means. All equations and models are derived in detail and illustrated by numerous figures. The appendix provides short excursions into the mathematical background, such as vector analysis, statistics, and differential equations

Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics deals with a systematic and unified approach to the dynamics of the ocean and atmosphere. The book reviews the relationship of the ocean-atmosphere and how this system functions. The text explains this system through radiative equilibrium models; the book also considers the greenhouse effect, the effects of convection and of horizontal gradients, and the variability in radiative driving of the earth. Equations in the book show the properties of a material element, mass conservation, the balance of scalar quantity (such as salinity), and the mathematical behavior of the ocean and atmosphere. The book also addresses how the ocean-atmosphere system tends to adjust to equilibrium, both in the absence and presence of driving forces such as gravity. The text also explains the effect of the earth's rotation on the system, as well as the application of forced motions such as that produced by wind or temperature changes. The book explains tropical dynamics and the effects of variation of the Coriolis parameter with latitude. The text will be appreciated by meteorologists, environmentalists, students studying hydrology, and people working in general earth sciences.

This book presents a unique and comprehensive view of the fundamental dynamical and thermodynamic principles underlying the large circulations of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system Dynamics of The Tropical Atmosphere and Oceans provides a detailed description of macroscale tropical circulation systems such as the monsoon, the Hadley and Walker Circulations, El Niño, and the tropical ocean warm pool. These macroscale circulations interact with a myriad of higher frequency systems, ranging from convective cloud systems to migrating equatorial waves that attend the low-frequency background flow. Towards understanding and predicting these circulation systems. A comprehensive overview of the dynamics and thermodynamics of large-scale tropical atmosphere and oceans is presented using both a “reductionist” and “holistic” perspectives of the coupled tropical system. The reductionist perspective provides a detailed description of the individual elements of the ocean and atmospheric circulations. The physical nature of each component of the tropical circulation such as the Hadley and Walker circulations, the monsoon, the incursion of extratropical phenomena into the tropics, precipitation distributions, equatorial waves and disturbances described in detail. The holistic perspective provides a physical description of how the collection of the individual components produces the observed tropical weather and climate. How the collective tropical processes determine the tropical circulation and their role in global weather and climate is provided in a series of overlapping theoretical and modelling constructs. The structure of the book follows a graduated framework. Following a detailed description of tropical phenomenology, the reader is introduced to dynamical and thermodynamical constraints that guide the planetary climate and establish a critical role for the tropics. Equatorial wave theory is developed for simple and complex background flows, including the critical role played by moist processes. The manner in which the tropics and the extratropics interact is then described, followed by a discussion of the physics behind the subtropical and near-equatorial precipitation including arid regions. The El Niño phenomena and the monsoon circulations are discussed, including their covariance and predictability. Finally, the changing structure of the tropics is discussed in terms of the extent of the tropical ocean warm pool and its relationship to the intensity of global convection and climate change. Dynamics of the Tropical Atmosphere and Oceans is aimed at advanced undergraduate and early career graduate students. It also serves as an excellent general reference book for scientists interested in tropical circulations and their relationship with the broader climate system.

Nonlinear Ocean Dynamics: Synthetic Aperture Radar delivers the critical tools needed to understand the latest technology surrounding the radar imaging of nonlinear waves, particularly microwave radar, as a main source to understand, analyze and apply concepts in the field of ocean dynamic surface. Filling the gap between modern physics quantum theory and applications of radar imaging of ocean dynamic surface, this reference is packed with technical details associated with the potentiality of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The book also includes key methods needed to extract the value-added information necessary, such as wave spectra energy, current pattern velocity, internal waves, and more. This book also reveals novel speculation of a shallow coastal front: named as Quantized Marghany's Front. Rounding out with practical simulations of 4-D wave-current interaction patterns using using radar images, the book brings an effective new source of technology and applications for today's coastal scientists and engineers. - Solves specific problems surrounding the nonlinearity of ocean surface dynamics in synthetic aperture radar data - Helps develop new algorithms for retrieving ocean wave spectra and ocean current movements from synthetic aperture radar - Includes over 100 equations that illustrate how to follow examples in the book