Ocean Circulation Theory

by Joseph Pedlosky

An overview of the advances made in the last decade and a half in this field. Based on an advanced graduate level course, the book represents fundamental insights into the structure of the physical theory of the large-scale dynamics of the oceans. The author has maintained throughout a blend of analytical and numerical results so as to achieve as deep a physical understanding of the dynamics of the large-scale circulations as possible. The results of the theories are compared with observations and the success or inadequacies of the theories are highlighted. Topics of particular interest theory of the wind-driven circulation, the thermocline, the equatorial circulation and the abyssal circulation. Much of the material - previously scattered throughout the literature - has been collated here for the first time.

467 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 1996