Re: Knauss Introduction To Physical Oceanography Pdf 16
Kym Cavrak
Written by a respected scholar in the field, this comprehensive, contemporary introduction to physical oceanography covers fundamental topics of interest to biologists, chemists, geologists, and physical oceanographers.
This textbook is satisfactory for an undergraduate textbook, but not for a 100-level class on oceanography; it is more appropriate for a 300 or 400-level. As the book was published in 2008, there are numerous advances and discoveries in...read more
This textbook is satisfactory for an undergraduate textbook, but not for a 100-level class on oceanography; it is more appropriate for a 300 or 400-level. As the book was published in 2008, there are numerous advances and discoveries in Oceanography that have been made since the publishing date that are obviously not included, but would be worthy additions. Instructors using this book will have to supplement with additional outside material.
The content of this textbook is very accurate, even if the writing is occasionally overly academic and dry. The included photos, graphs, and figures are complete, even if they are only in black and white. I didn't come across any errors or overt bias, as the science presented is all based on accepted peer-reviewed material.
What is great about this textbook is that the author keeps a record of the updates made in subsequent editions. While in this specific edition in its base form there are aspects that are not as current as would be nice for a 2020 classroom. Building on that, I think that it is only a matter of time before additional information in this text becomes outdated, especially pertaining to aspects supported by advances in computer modeling and fluid dynamics.
As mentioned above, this book is more suitable for 300 or 400 level students, as opposed to the 100 level. While the material is scientifically accurate and fairly well presented, it is, I believe, overly technical and could be confusing for someone completely new to oceanography.
Generally speaking, the book does a good job at being organized and comprehensive on all topics, even if some of the sections are overly segmented. I felt that some of the break-downs were not warranted, although I do understand why the author did it. It just made reading it more challenging for this reviewer. I don't suspect that the author will change this format in subsequent updates, but it is not overall inhibitive, just a little clunky.
This textbook is comprehensive for an undergraduate textbook. It covers a diverse set of topics in physical oceanography and goes into some detail on several topics. Some of the more recent advances in the last decade in observational oceanography...read more
This textbook is comprehensive for an undergraduate textbook. It covers a diverse set of topics in physical oceanography and goes into some detail on several topics. Some of the more recent advances in the last decade in observational oceanography as well as modeling are not updated yet.
The content of the textbook is written and updated by the author on a regular basis. The author also catalogs the updates made in each version of the textbook. It was last updated a few years ago and hence could be updated further to include more recent research information on some topics such as meridional overturning circulation. Some of the information could become outdated in a few years as research in numerical modeling of the ocean or observational platforms advance with modern techniques. This could be updated by the author easily and presented in a similar language as currently presented in the textbook.
The content in the textbook is presented in an accessible way for undergraduate education. This textbook contains topics and text that might be more suitable for an upper level undergraduate course than an introductory course that caters to non-science majors also. Yet the author provides adequate references and context for the content that students at any level in undergraduate education can access the material easily.
The textbook overall is well organized and is comprehensive. Yet, there are many subtopics and subheadings that may not always be necessary in the larger context for a lecture on a certain topic. Hence the details of the chapters in the textbook could use some reorganization especially when it is updated to include the modern advances in modeling, observations or other topics.
This text contains current information and examples as of today. Some information could become outdated in the near future, as far as numerical models and equipment for measurements are concerned. However, this could be updated in a relatively easy manner.
This text assumes the reader has taken previous physics, math, and/or oceanography courses. This is well-designed for an upper division undergraduate course, but not for use for an introductory oceanography course.
There were not any issues with navigation of the web pages. Images were clear. The site for the text appears to be down for both the pdf and the web version as I write this. Perhaps this is due to an update or error at the site's network.
This is a great text for an undergraduate upper division course. It would need to be updated on a regular basis to stay current with the field. I would recommend this text to someone teaching a physical oceanography course.
This textbook covers physical-oceanographic processes, theories, data, and measurements, targeted at upper-division undergraduates and graduate students in oceanography, meteorology, and ocean engineering. In addition to the classical topics, the author includes discussions of heat fluxes, the role of the ocean in climate, the deep circulation, equatorial processes including El Nino, data bases used by oceanographers, the role of satellites and data from space, ship-based measurements, and the importance of vorticity in understanding oceanic flows. Students should have studied differential equations and introductory college physics, although math is de-emphasized.
Robert Stewart is an Emeritus Professor of Oceanography at Texas A&M University. He earned his PhD in Physical Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.
I'm a junior studying math at a Canadian university and I'm planning on applying to oceanography grad schools. However, I haven't taken much physics or geology courses, and am just starting to swap out some of my math courses for courses like remote sensing and environmental modelling.
What are some good grad schools for physical oceanography and what do they typically look for in an applicant? Will decent math and physics grades and high grades in geology courses look good, along with a decent GRE score? I'm thinking of applying to Canadian and US institutions. If you have any suggestions on where I can apply, I'd appreciate that too!
Most of the physical oceanography students I know studied mechanical engineering, physics or mathematics in undergrad. Strong physics and mathematical skills are very important. Programming is also a plus. Having a few earth sciences courses is good, but the physics and math is much more important, so I think you will be in good shape.
However, beyond the basic background, clear ability to do research is very important in PhD admissions. Even if the applicant doesn't have any research experience, there are ways he/she can show that potential. A clear statement of purpose that outlines and contextualizes the problems the student wants to address in graduate school will catch the eye of any professor looking for students. There many students who have posters at AGU, GSA ect, however, the truth of the matter is that most undergraduates with research experience entering graduate school aren't ready to hit the ground running anyway. Professors know that, as they have had students before.
For courses, I would say skip the environmental modeling course unless it is directly related to what you want to research. Take the remote sensing, and instead of environmental modeling, take a full on numerical modeling course. A rigorous undergraduate level (or if you can stomach it, graduate level) will give you a very strong foundation for whatever simulations you may or may not to run during your career as scientist, even if you start out as a purely observational scientist. Fluid Mechanics is also a no brainer if you still have time.
The best advice I can give you is look at what researchers are doing on their websites and try and read a few of their papers. If you know any professors with these same interests, ask them what you don't understand. Earth Sciences is much different than math (I came from pure physics), spend some time trying understand what an oceanographer does. If you can figure that out, you will be more than prepared to reflect that in your statement of purpose and you will be a stellar candidate for graduate school.
I agree that full-on numerical modelling is good but could be delayed to grad school, since the student has a strong math background. I think environmental modelling is important for an understanding of how conceptual models are constructed and then implemented mathematically. Yes to physics.
The other reason is so the person asking the question can find out if they are really interested in the discipline. It would be bad to get to grad school and then find out it isn't as good as it sounds.
You might look at Dalhousie University because of the proximity to Bedford Institute of Oceanography. Also check out the Federal Student Work Experience Program and see if there is a chance to spend some time at BIO or elsewhere. That would look very good on an application.
Fluctuations within the ocean affect the climate significantly. Sea surface temperature (SST) changes from year-to-year significantly. The SST anomalies can persist for a long time. Nino3 and southern oscillation indices
ocean plays a significant role in the global change. The figure depicts atmospheric CO2 concentrations from 1958 to the present as measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. These data, obtained by Keeling and Whorf (1998), represent the longest continuous record of directly measured CO2 concentrations. As the graph of these data indicates, there has been a substantial and sustained rise in the air's CO2 content over the past four decades, from about 315 ppm to over 360 ppm. The greenhouse effect tends to increase atmospheric temperature. Ocean is a major part of global carbon cycle and our knowledge of oceanography may be important for estimating the trend of global warming.
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