This second edition retains the general structure of the first edition, but
has been updated in the light of recent oceanographic research, and improved
as a teaching text on the basis of feedback from past students and other
readers.

Notable additions include new sections addressing the topic of
numerical modelling, and more discussion of natural oscillations in the
ocean-atmosphere system (previously confined to the El Niño phenomenon). In
particular, the Chapter on the North Atlantic now includes a discussion of
the North Atlantic Oscillation, as well as of the Great Salinity Anomaly. In
the final Chapter, treatment of water mass formation has been updated to
reflect recent ideas about the processes involved and how they relate to
climatic change over different time-scales, from decades to millennia.



High quality full colour diagrams
Substantial chapter summaries ideal for revision
Answers, hints and notes for questions at back of the book