Oceanography: The Basics

Earth’s oceans are vital for sustaining life on our planet. Oceanography is an intrinsically multidisciplinary science that explores how the ocean does this. The author uses plankton as a focus for the book, drawing together the physics of the ocean circulation, the chemistry of nutrients and carbon, and the biology of the plankton.

The book begins by describing the major ocean currents and tides, and the importance of stratification, or layers, in the ocean. It explains how microscopic plan...