Contents
Foreword ix
Preface xi
P reface of the first edition xiii
I Fundamentals 1
1 Introduction 3
1.1 Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Impor tance of geophysical fluid dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Distinguishing attributes of geophysical flows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Scales of motions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Importance of rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Importance of stratification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.7 Distin ction between the atmosphere and oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.8 Data acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.9 The emergence of nume rical simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.10 Scales analysis and finite differences . . . . . . . . . . . . .