The Equations of Oceanic Motions

Peter Muller is a Professor of Oceanography in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii.

• Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Equilibrium thermodynamics of sea water; 3. Balance equations; 4. Molecular flux laws; 5. The gravitational potential; 6. The basic equations; 7. Dynamical impact of the equation state; 8. Free wave solution on a sphere; 9. Asymptotic expansions; 10. Reynolds decomposition; 11. Boussinesq approximation; 12. Large scale motions; 13. Primitive equations; 14. Representations of vertical structure; 15. Ekman layers; 16. Planetary geostrophic flows; 17. Tidal equations; 18. Medium scale motions; 19. Quasi-geostrophic flows; 20. Motions on the f-plane; 21. Small scale motions; 22. Sound waves; Appendix A. Equilibrium thermodynamics; Appendix B. Vector and tensor analysis; Appendix C. Orthogonal curvilinear coordinate systems; Appendix D. Kinematics of fluid motions; Appendix E. Kinematics of waves; Appendix F. Conventional and notation; References; Index.

Review of the hardback: 'The book will surely become a standard reference for the ocean dynamicist who wants to get the equations and usual approximations right. For me, the book is already worth the price just for its thorough treatment of the Boussinesq approximation. … On many topics, The Equations of Oceanic Motions supplements or surpasses these standard books. It … deserves to become a trusted guide to the basic formulation of physical oceanography.' Oceanography