Explores climate and oceans, providing a look at the basics of climate, a descriptive overview of the oceans, a brief introduction to dynamics, and coverage of other related topics.

"Explains the effect that climate change is having on the oceans, including melting sea ice, rising sea levels, and its affect on marine life; includes glossary, additional resources, and index, "--

Climate Change and the Oceans investigates the effects of climate change on the ocean environment and its implications for maritime activities, both globally and within the Asia Pacific region. This detailed work draws together informed opinion from a range of disciplines to examine the impacts of climate change on marine and coastal areas and review legal and policy responses to the rapidly changing ocean environment. Issues including the effects on fisheries and marine biodiversity in the Asia Pacific region, maritime security, global shipping, marine jurisdiction and marine geo-engineering are also explored. Examining the multiple impacts of climate change on the oceans and ocean based solutions to mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change, this thought-provoking book will prove invaluable to academics, researchers and students in the fields of law, environment, ecology and political science. Oceans and marine environmental policymakers will also find this to be an essential resource.

The principal focus of this book is the physical processes in the World Ocean which regulate the interannual-to-multidecadal natural variability of the climate system, and some key atmospheric and marine manifestations of this variability. It analyses a number of Atlantic and Indo-Pacific signals, and describes their regional atmospheric and marine manifestations. The role of the Ocean in the recent hiatus of global warming and the probability of abrupt climate change due to thermohaline catastrophe are also assessed. The book pays special attention to the change of parameters of synoptic atmospheric disturbances over the Northern Hemisphere and its sub-regions in different phases of the natural quasi-periodical climatic signals. It will appeal to oceanographers, climatologists, meteorologists, hydrologist, geographers and the general reader interested in the problem of climate change all over the globe, especially with regards to Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region.

How can the tiny plankton in the sea just off Western Europe be affected by changes 6000 km away on the other side of the North Atlantic Ocean? How can a slight rise in the temperature of the surface of the Pacific Ocean have a devastating impact on amphibian life in Costa Rica? Living populations across the globe are connected by great swayings of the world's atmosphere and oceans, the largest of which is El Nino. For almost half a century, the numbers of some of the smallest animals in the North Sea have gone up and down as the Gulf Stream has moved north and south 4000 miles away at the coast of the USA. This connection has happened because the weather patterns over the North Atlantic are intertwined by a phenomenon first described by a Danish missionary in the eighteenth century, the North Atlantic Oscillation. In The Dance of Air and Sea Arnold Taylor focuses on the large-scale dynamics of the world's climate, looking at how the atmosphere and oceans interact, and the ways in which ecosystems in water and on land respond to changes in weather. He tells stories of how discoveries were made, and the scientists who made them; and he considers the crucial issues of how the discoveries aid our response to global warming.

The book represents all the knowledge we currently have on ocean circulation. It presents an up-to-date summary of the state of the science relating to the role of the oceans in the physical climate system. The book is structured to guide the reader through the wide range of World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) science in a consistent way. Cross-references between contributors have been added, and the book has a comprehensive index and unified reference list. The book is simple to read, at the undergraduate level. It was written by the best scientists in the world who have collaborated to carry out years of experiments to better understand ocean circulation.

Offers a multidisciplinary edited volume on policy dimensions of climate change for the world's oceans, for researchers, policymakers and activists.