Wolf Berger
David Lindberg (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520247789
- eISBN:
- 9780520942547
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520247789.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Aquatic Biology
The past one hundred years of ocean science have been distinguished by dramatic milestones, remarkable discoveries, and major revelations. This book is a clear and lively survey of many of these ...
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The past one hundred years of ocean science have been distinguished by dramatic milestones, remarkable discoveries, and major revelations. This book is a clear and lively survey of many of these amazing findings. Beginning with a brief review of the elements that define what the ocean is and how it works—from plate tectonics to the thermocline and the life within it—the author places current understanding in the context of history. Essays treat such topics as beach processes and coral reefs, the great ocean currents off the East and West Coasts, the productivity of the sea, and the geologic revolution that changed all knowledge of the earth in the twentieth century.Less
The past one hundred years of ocean science have been distinguished by dramatic milestones, remarkable discoveries, and major revelations. This book is a clear and lively survey of many of these amazing findings. Beginning with a brief review of the elements that define what the ocean is and how it works—from plate tectonics to the thermocline and the life within it—the author places current understanding in the context of history. Essays treat such topics as beach processes and coral reefs, the great ocean currents off the East and West Coasts, the productivity of the sea, and the geologic revolution that changed all knowledge of the earth in the twentieth century.
Matthieu Roy-Barman and Catherine Jeandel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198787495
- eISBN:
- 9780191829604
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198787495.003.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Geophysics, Atmospheric and Environmental Physics
By transporting chemical elements, the ocean circulation is essential to marine geochemistry. The distribution of seawater temperature, salinity and density is used to describe the ocean ...
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By transporting chemical elements, the ocean circulation is essential to marine geochemistry. The distribution of seawater temperature, salinity and density is used to describe the ocean stratification (mixed layer, thermocline and deep waters) and the main water masses. The balance of the forces (pressure, Coriolis force, gravity and shear stress) acting on a water parcel is used to derive the large-scale ocean circulation. The wind forcing results in the Ekman drift and the Ekman pumping. Dips and bumps at the ocean surface (dynamic topography) create geostrophic currents such as the Gulf Stream. The intensification of the western boundary currents is due to the change of the Coriolis force with latitude. The thermocline ventilation and the occurrence of shadow zone is explained. The equatorial circulation is particular because there is no Coriolis force at the Equator. The thermohaline circulation is introduced briefly.Less
By transporting chemical elements, the ocean circulation is essential to marine geochemistry. The distribution of seawater temperature, salinity and density is used to describe the ocean stratification (mixed layer, thermocline and deep waters) and the main water masses. The balance of the forces (pressure, Coriolis force, gravity and shear stress) acting on a water parcel is used to derive the large-scale ocean circulation. The wind forcing results in the Ekman drift and the Ekman pumping. Dips and bumps at the ocean surface (dynamic topography) create geostrophic currents such as the Gulf Stream. The intensification of the western boundary currents is due to the change of the Coriolis force with latitude. The thermocline ventilation and the occurrence of shadow zone is explained. The equatorial circulation is particular because there is no Coriolis force at the Equator. The thermohaline circulation is introduced briefly.
