Sussex: Artemis Press, 1976. — 143 p.
The purpose of this book is to provide an integrated introduction to meteorology and physical oceanography. With experience of teaching each subject independently in first-year university courses, I have become convinced that an integrated course is very much more satisfactory. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that the same basic principles apply to many aspects of the two subjects, as both are concerned with the physical properties and movements of fluids at and near the surface of the rotating Earth. Thus concepts such as hydrostatic pressure, vertical stability, Coriolis effect, geostrophic flow and vorticity are common to both, and the learning process is consolidated and becomes more efficient when the different applications of a particular concept are brought together. The second reason is that the atmosphere and the ocean interact with one another to a very considerable extent. The exchanges of thermal energy, momentum and water across the interface between the sea and the air play major roles in determining the physical characteristics of each fluid, and the exchanges of gases (in particular carbon dioxide and oxygen) and salts are also of considerable though more limited significance. A study of either the atmosphere or the ocean must t4erefore be making constant reference to the other, and to the movements and distributions of properties within it.
