 | Climate and the Oceans The oceans exert a vital moderating influence on the Earth's climate system. They provide inertia to the global climate, essentially acting as the pacemaker of climate variability and change, and they provide heat to high latitudes, keeping them habitable. Climate and the Oceans offers a short, self-contained introduction to the subject. This illustrated primer begins by briefly describing the world's climate system and ocean circulation and goes on to explain the important ways that the oceans influence climate. Topics covered include the oceans' effects on the seasons, heat transport between equator and pole, climate variability, and global warming. The book also features a glossary of terms, suggestions for further reading, and easy-to-follow mathematical treatments. The best primer on the oceans and climate Succinct and self-contained Accessible to students and nonspecialists Serves as a bridge to more advanced material Geoffrey K. Vallis is professor and senior scientist in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Program and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University. He is the author of the standard graduate text Atmospheric and Oceanic Fluid Dynamics . |
