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  • Book
  • © 2006

Physical Oceanography

Developments Since 1950

  • Unique in its combination of the three major subdisciplines in physical oceanography: observation, theory and modelling

  • Unique historical overview of the development of physical oceanography by truly leading people in the field

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Softcover Book USD 169.99
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Hardcover Book USD 169.99
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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Historical Introduction

    • Bruce A. Warren
    Pages 1-14
  3. Reminiscences of MODE

    • Francis Bretherton
    Pages 15-27
  4. Modeling Ocean Circulation

    • Kirk Bryan
    Pages 29-44
  5. Contributions to Global Ocean Observations

    • Russ E. Davis
    Pages 45-66
  6. El Niño and Ocean Observations

    • Michael J. McPhaden
    Pages 79-99
  7. Reflections of an Equatorial Oceanographer

    • Dennis Wilson Moore
    Pages 101-117
  8. Ocean Acoustic Tomography

    • Walter Munk
    Pages 119-138
  9. A History of Thermocline Theory

    • Joseph Pedlosky
    Pages 139-152
  10. Sextant to Satellite

    • S. George Philander
    Pages 153-163
  11. Interview with Klaus Wyrtki, 25 February 1999

    • Hans Von Storch, Jürgen Sündermann, Lorenz Magaard
    Pages 203-237
  12. Back Matter

    Pages 239-250

About this book

Over the last ?ve decades Physical Oceanography developed explosively from a state with only a few observations and theories to a mature science with global ?eld p- grams,massivecomputerpower,andacomplextheoreticalframework. Thescientists wholedthisdevelopmentarealreadyorwillsoonberetired. Thiscollectionofessays documentssomeofthebreakthroughsandalsotriestocapturethespiritofexploration and excitement that accompanied these developments. Theoriginalmotivationforthepresentbookcamefromourdesiretounderstand the current social and scienti?c framework in which we work as physical ocean- raphers. Brief re?ection makes it obvious that this framework must have historical roots. However, discussions about these roots with senior scientists only made the picture more complex and confusing. We came to the conclusion that there is no simple story that explains the current state of affairs. The natural solution was to let seniorscientiststellhowtheyperceivedthedevelopmentsinthe?eld,eachfromtheir own unique point of view. Thus, by surrendering editorial objectivity we arrived at a broader, more objective view. The approach is comparable to data acquisition: it is known that there are no perfect observations, so one makes many. The goal then is to reduce biases by sampling as often as possible. However, to keep the book at a manageable size and still give the individual authors space enough to cover several decades, we were limited to 10 to 20 authors whose contributions should not exceed 20 pages. Thus, the book is by no means a complete history of physical oceanography; many important scientists and subdisciplines of the ?eld are not accounted for.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"This book is an eclectic collection of science memoirs … . is unique in its approach and has something for everyone. I recommend it highly for students and young scientists, both for historical curiosity and because it will help them to assimilate past lessons learned into their own careers. But I also recommend if for older scientists who have lived through many of the developments of the last half-century, and who may wish to reflect on their own careers in the context of the book." (David B. Enfield, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, March, 2007)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Oceanography Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA

    Markus Jochum

  • ESSIC/UMD, College Park, USA

    Raghu Murtugudde

About the editors

Markus Jochum is an associate editor of Journal of Geophysical Research and Raghu Murtugudde is editor of Journal of Geophysical Research and associate editor of Journal of Climate.

The list of authors includes prominent scientists: Warren, Bretherton, Bryan, Davis, Godfrey, McPhaden, Moore, Munk, Pedlosky, Philander, Reid, Wunsch, and Wyrtki.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access