Ocean Circulation & Climate: Observing and modelling the global ocean
edited by Gerald Siedler, John Church and John Gould, Academic Press,
International Geophysical Series Volume 77, 拢65.95, ISBN 0126413517
BIG things have been happening in oceanography over the past 20 years. And it
has to be said: we needed that effort.
Water has a high heat capacity, and the top few metres of the ocean store as
much heat as the entire atmosphere. When you realise the oceans on this blue
planet are on average 3.7 kilometres deep, their importance in the climate
system is clear. Our search for comprehensive understanding has led to almost 30
nations working in four oceans as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment
(WOCE)鈥攁nd ultimately to this excellent 鈥淲OCE results鈥� book.
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It is not a textbook in the traditional sense, so don鈥檛 look here for a
detailed development of the theory of ocean circulation. It is more an
oceanographic 鈥渟tate of the nation鈥�. Contributions from more than 70 authors
cover most WOCE areas. Though the technical level is third-year undergraduate or
above, the writing style is very accessible and it鈥檚 easy to get the 鈥渢ake home
message鈥� of each chapter.
My favourite is 鈥淕lobal problems and global observations鈥�, in which Carl
Wunsch describes the literature on ocean circulation as suffering from 鈥渕ultiple
personality disorder鈥�. The wide authorship of this book means it doesn鈥檛 come
down on the side of any one of these personalities.
No one would describe this as a cheap book, but for your money you do get
excellent editing and production quality plus hundreds of diagrams and dozens of
colour plates. It will be essential for ocean and climate scientists for years
to come. And as virtually every chapter finishes with suggestions for future
work, it鈥檚 quite clear that we haven鈥檛 heard the last of WOCE.