It provides a concise introduction to the dynamics and thermodynamics of oceanic general circulation.

The twelve chapters of this volume aim to provide a complete manual for using noble gases in terrestrial geochemistry, covering applications which range from high temperature processes deep in the Earth’s interior to tracing climatic variations using noble gases trapped in ice cores, groundwaters and modern sediments. Other chapters cover noble gases in crustal (aqueous, CO2 and hydrocarbon) fluids and laboratory techniques for determining noble gas solubilities and diffusivities under geologically relevant conditions. Each chapter deals with the fundamentals of the analysis and interpretation of the data, detailing sampling and sampling strategies, techniques for analysis, sources of error and their estimation, including data treatment and data interpretation using recent case studies.

An overview of the advances made in the last decade and a half in this field. Based on an advanced graduate level course, the book represents fundamental insights into the structure of the physical theory of the large-scale dynamics of the oceans. The author has maintained throughout a blend of analytical and numerical results so as to achieve as deep a physical understanding of the dynamics of the large-scale circulations as possible. The results of the theories are compared with observations and the success or inadequacies of the theories are highlighted. Topics of particular interest are: theory of the wind-driven circulation, the thermocline, the equatorial circulation and the abyssal circulation. Much of the material - previously scattered throughout the literature - has been collated here for the first time.