Numerical Models of Oceans and Oceanic Processes ANNOTATION
Audience: Academics, graduate students, and researchers in oceanography, atmospheric science, meteorology, limnology, and fluid dynamics in general.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Numerical Models of Oceans and Oceanic Processes is a comprehensive resource on ocean modeling. Students and researchers will enjoy introductory as well as up-to-date discussions of ocean dynamics for mid-latitude and high latitude oceans. Individual chapters treat barotropic, quasi-geostrophic, layered, level, isopycnal, sigma-coordinate and coupled models. With detailed chapters on pre- and post-processing for ocean modeling and handy appendices on scales and wavelet transforms, this volume will serve as a practical reference source for ocean modeling.
SYNOPSIS
From the Foreword by Kirk Bryan
"This book...draws from many sources and an extensive background and experience in modeling to provide an
understandable teaching tool and guide for research."
Oceans play a pivotal role in our weather and climate. Ocean-borne commerce is vital to our increasingly close-knit global
community. Yet we do not fully understand the intricate details of how they function, how they interact with the atmosphere, and
what the limits are to their biological productivity and their tolerance to wastes. While satellites are helping us to fill in the gaps,
numerical ocean models are playing an important role in increasing our ability to comprehend oceanic processes, monitor the
current state of the oceans, and to a limited extent, even predict their future state.
Numerical Models of Oceans and Oceanic Processes is a survey of the current state of knowledge in this field. It brings
together a discussion of salient oceanic dynamics and processes, numerical solution methods, and ocean models to provide
a comprehensive treatment of the topic. Starting with elementary concepts in ocean dynamics, it deals with equatorial,
mid-latitude, high latitude, and coastal dynamics from the perspective of a modeler. A comprehensive and up-to-date chapter
on tides is also included. This is followed by a discussion of different kinds of numerical ocean models and the pre- and
post-processing requirements and techniques. Air-sea and ice-ocean coupled models are described, as well as data
assimilation and nowcast/forecasts. Comprehensive appendices on wavelet transforms and empirical orthogonal functions are
also included.
This comprehensive and up-to-date survey of the field should be of interest to oceanographers, atmospheric scientists, and
climatologists. While some prior knowledge of oceans and numerical modeling is helpful, the book includes an overview of
enough elementary material so that along with its companion volume, Small Scale Processes in Geophysical Flows, it should be
useful to both students new to the field and practicing professionals.
FROM THE CRITICS
D Webb
...Most useful for post-graduate students and others entering the field...excellent introductions to the subjects.—Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 2001, Vol. 442.
Booknews
Kantha (University of Colorado) and Clayson (Purdue) summarize present approaches to numerically modeling circulation in mid-latitude and high latitude oceans. This special case of computational fluid dynamics involves solutions of a coupled set of nonlinear partial differential equations governing the time-dependent behavior of properties of a fluid flowing in three-dimensional space and acted upon by various forces. Individual chapters treat barotropic, quasi- geostrophic, layered, level, isopycnal, sigma-coordinate and coupled models. Topics related to subgrid-scale processes are covered separately in . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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