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Physical Oceanography

Developments Since 1950

  • Book
  • © 2006

Overview

Editors:
  1. Markus Jochum

    1. Oceanography Section, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Raghu Murtugudde

    1. ESSIC/UMD, College Park, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • 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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Table of contents (13 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
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  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. On Reconciling Oceanic and Atmospheric Estimates of Surface Heat Fluxes—and on Validating Greenhouse Models

    • J. S. Godfrey
    Pages 67-78

  7. El Niño and Ocean Observations

    • Michael J. McPhaden
    Pages 79-99

  8. Reflections of an Equatorial Oceanographer

    • Dennis Wilson Moore
    Pages 101-117

  9. Ocean Acoustic Tomography

    • Walter Munk
    Pages 119-138

  10. A History of Thermocline Theory

    • Joseph Pedlosky
    Pages 139-152

  11. Sextant to Satellite

    • S. George Philander
    Pages 153-163

  12. Some Advances and Retreats in the Study of Ocean Circulation since 1935

    • Joseph L. Reid
    Pages 165-179

  13. Towards the World Ocean Circulation Experiment and a Bit of Aftermath

    • Carl Wunsch
    Pages 181-201

  14. Interview with Klaus Wyrtki, 25 February 1999

    • Hans Von Storch, Jürgen Sündermann, Lorenz Magaard
    Pages 203-237

  15. Back Matter

    Pages 239-250
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Keywords

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.

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