Ocean [[electronic resource] ] : reflections on a century of exploration / / Wolf H. Berger with contributions by E. N. Shor

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910454826903321
• Autore: Berger Wolfgang H
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2009
• ISBN: 1-282-36076-0; 9786612360763; 0-520-94254-X
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (533 pages)
• Classificazione: UT 3000
• Altri autori (Persone): ShorElizabeth Noble
• Disciplina: 551.46
• Soggetti: Underwater exploration - History; Ocean - History; Oceanography - History; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- FOREWORD -- Introduction. Coping with a Sea of Change -- 1. Discovering the Ocean: Of Fish and Ships and People -- 2. A Portrait of the Ocean Planet: Elements of Ocean Literacy -- 3. Life at the Edge of a Fertile Sea: The Birthplace of Marine Science -- 4. Of Coral Reefs and Atolls: Stone Gardens of Tropical Seas -- 5. The Zen of the Beach: Musings on a River of Sand -- 6. Unraveling the Gulf Stream Puzzle: On a Warm Current Running North -- 7. Sardines and the California Current: On a Cold Current Running South -- 8. Meadows and Deserts of the Sea: On the Elusive Concept of Ocean Productivity -- 9. Of Whales and Sharks and Giant Squid: Reflections on the Big, the Strange, and the Powerful -- 10. The Deep, the Cold, the Dark: Life at the End of the Line -- 11. Seeing in the Dark: A Sound Approach to Exploration -- 12. Mountains, Trenches, Sunken Islands: The Great Revolution in Earth Science -- 13. The Ocean's Memory of the Ice Ages: The Endless Cycles of Climate Change -- 14. Abyssal Memories: A Thousand Holes in the Bottom of the Sea -- 15. Global Warming and the Ocean: Human Impact on a Greenhouse Planet -- Epilogue: The Great Trends in Exploration and the Challenges Ahead -- ; Appendix 1. Units Used in the Ocean Sciences -- Appendix 2. Aspects of Ocean Chemistry -- Appendix 3: Overview of Major Groups of Important Marine Organisms -- Appendix 4: Geologic Time Scale -- Appendix 5: Topographic Statistics -- Figure Sources and References -- Index
• Sommario/riassunto: The past one hundred years of ocean science have been distinguished by dramatic milestones, remarkable discoveries, and major revelations. This book is a clear and lively survey of many of these amazing findings. Beginning with a brief review of the elements that define what the ocean is and how it works-from plate tectonics to the thermocline and the life within it-Wolf H. Berger places current understanding in the context of history. Essays treat such topics as beach processes and coral reefs, the great ocean currents off the East and West Coasts, the productivity of the sea, and the geologic revolution that changed all knowledge of the earth in the twentieth century.