Understanding the Oceans A Century of Ocean Exploration

About this book

Brings together an internationally distinguished group of authors to consider the enormous advances in marine science that have been achieved since the voyages of HMS Challenger a century ago. The whole book draws inspiration from the seminal contribution made by the research conducted on those voyages, and each contributor considers the significance of the findings, relating them to the exciting developments of today and tomorrow.

Contents

Section 1: The Historical Context; 1: The Challenger Expedition - the end of an era or a new beginning?; 2: 'Big Science' in Victorian Britain - the Challenger Expedition (1872-76) and its report (1881-95); 3: Oceanographic sovereigns - Prince Albert I of Monaco and King Carlos I of Portugal; 4: Expedition to investigation - the work of the Discovery Committee; Section 2: Ocean Basins; 5: Shape as a key to understanding the geology of the oceans; 6: Silent, strong and deep - the mystery of how basins fill; 7: Palaeoceanography - tapping the ocean's long-term memory; 8: Hydrothermal activity at mid-ocean ridges; Section 3; 9: Polar dreams and California sardines - Harald Ulrik Sverdrup and the study of ocean circulation prior to the Second World War; 10: Direct measurement of subsurface ocean currents - a success story; 11: Oceanography from space - past success, future challenge; 12: Transient tracers and tracer release experiments - new tools from the oceanographers; Section 4: The Ocean Ecosystem; 13: 'Problem-children of analytical chemistry.' Elucidating the seasonal cycle of marine plankton production through nutrient analysis; 14: Why is the sea salty - what controls the composition of ocean water?; 15: Deep-sea biology in the 1990s - a legacy of the Challenger Expedition; 16: The Challenger legacy - the next twenty years; 17: The Challenger Expedition on postage stamps

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