Description
Book SynopsisThe oceans exert a vital moderating influence on the Earth's climate system. They provide inertia to the global climate, essentially acting as the pacemaker of climate variability and change, and they provide heat to high latitudes, keeping them habitable. This title offers a short, self-contained introduction to the subject.
Trade Review"This easy-to-read illustrated book, filled with both data and accessible mathematical equations demonstrating the impact of the oceans on the Earth's climate, offers practitioners and stakeholders' state-of-the-art scientific analysis of how the oceans and climate interact that is both user friendly to the non-expert yet scientifically rigorous enough as bridge material for graduate students as they grapple with the compelling field of climate science and oceanography... These books at Princeton Primers in Climate are a superb resource to find meticulous, detailed, and clearly presented facts on climate change science."--Gabriel Thoumi, MongaBay.com "This is an excellent primer on the physical processes that control interactions within and between the atmosphere and ocean... It is a quick read that would be appropriate for scientists looking for information on the salient points of ocean-atmosphere interactions and climate. It would also serve as a useful complementary resource for an introductory-level course in oceanography."--Choice "I absolutely recommend this book. Those expecting a primer on oceans and climate will be rewarded with much more than a book that teaches the basics of a subject. I have taught about the ocean for more than 20 years and I still found plenty of insights in this text that will enhance my own teaching of undergraduate and graduate students."--Susan Lozier, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Table of ContentsPreface vii Chapter 1: Basics of Climate 1 Chapter 2: The Oceans: A Descriptive Overview 22 Chapter 3: A Brief Introduction to Dynamics 41 Chapter 4: The Ocean Circulation 75 Chapter 5: The Ocean's Overall Role in Climate 105 Chapter 6: Climate Variability from Weeks to Years 128 Chapter 7: Global Warming and the Ocean 156 Notes 205 Further Reading 211 Glossary 215 References 223 Index 229
