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