In this new sixth edition, Keith Sverdrup has teamed up with Alyn and Alison Duxbury as a co-author. The book continues to be for an introductory oceanography course intended for students without a background in mathematics, chemistry, physics, geology, or biology and it emphasizes the role of basic scientific principles in the processes that govern the ocean and the earth.
A major objective of this text is to stimulate student interest and curiosity by blending contemporary information and research with basic principles to form an integrated introduction to the sciences of the oceans. To accomplish that, the author team has rewritten many chapters, rearranged others, and added new and updated material to all the chapters.
To keep the text as current as possible, the authors have spent much time reading the ever-increasing literature from the analyses of satellite data and the results of large-scale oceanographic programs. From these they have selected material that illustrates new technologies and clarifies the principles of oceanography.
In "An Introduction to the World's Oceans", more emphasis is placed on the physical and geological aspects of the oceans than on the chemical and geochemical, because these latter disciplines require more specific background knowledge. An ecological approach as well as descriptive material is used to integrate the biological chapters with other subjects. "Practical Consideration" sections continue to emphasize the relationships existing among people, ocean resources, and the marine environment. Emphasis is on oceanography as a cohesive and united whole rather than a collection of subjects gathered under a marine umbrella.
Furthermore, the authors continue to make each chapter stand as independently as possible, so you may use the text in the chapter order that best suits your classroom.
Internet Exercises are available on the text web site. These will challenge students to obtain data or other information from various sites on the web and then solve problems.
Besides the internet exercises on the web site, you'll find the Student Study Guide and Instructor's Manual (the IM is password protected). Every chapter has a listing of internet URLs and when appropriate, there are URL addresses included in figure captions. These URLs direct them to the relevant sites without the need to blindly search the web.
Discussions have been updated to reflect new data and information from recent research. For example:
New discussion of how seawater affects light
New discussion of study of underwater sound
Impact of 1997-98 El Nino
"End of Chapter Problems" allow students to test their understanding of the concepts while providing them with more experience in the manipulation and processing of concepts and data. It allows students to "get their hands dirty" by working with the ideas presented in the chapter rather than just passively reading the material
Special Interest Boxes provide in-depth discussions of: 1) practical applications of different techniques; 2) cutting edge research projects; or 3) particularly interesting processes and phenomena related to the oceans.
A new boxed reading that has been added is on the "Recovery of Black Smokers: 1998" which discusses the expedition to recover four black smokers from Juan de Fuca ridge.
MetaText Edition Available! There is a Web-based version of this book (an eTextbook) that
allows instructors to customize the text by adding comments and web links
directly into the text margin. Instructors can also quickly and easily
create online syllibi, post announcements, and email students. Students can
search, annotate and highlight the text.
