Vlll
Preface
ganisms and the environment, it is necessary to work with marine ecosystems
in which physical, chemical and biological components are equally important
in defining the total system properties. At present there are many reasons for
such an approach. Firstly, the fluid mechanical processes underlying some of
the large-scale biological phenomena are now better understood. There have
also been important advances in our ability to obtain continuous, fine-scale
biological data with a coverage and resolution comparable with the best physical data. Also, the need to understand marine ecological processes influencing
the greenhouse effect and other aspects of world climate, such as the flux of
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into surface waters and on down into the
deep ocean, is becoming more urgent. Finally, the increased understanding of
fundamental processes is beginning to influence the management of the ocean's
living resources.
For all of these reasons, there is a need to bring the attention of marine ecologists, oceanographers and marine engineers to how mechanics of ocean waters
interacts, influences and constrains the ocean's biological life. This proposed
book is dedicated to such an effort. The main objective of this book is to make
physical processes intelligible to biologists with a modicum of mathematics,
and make the nature of life in the sea understandable to oceanographers and
engineers. The book is directed to a diverse audience, such as marine biologists
and ecologists who would like to know more about the mechanisms by which
plants and animals live in the oceans, as well as physical oceanographers, engineers and fluid dynamicists who would like to see how their knowledge of
mechanics can be used to study marine ecology. Above all, I hope the book
will be interesting to readers who want to think about ocean water dynamics
and its biological implications.
The book is designed for graduate students, PhD students, postdoctoral students and scientists - biologists, ecologists, physicists and engineers working
on ocean environmental problems. Because of the large variety in the potential audience, the presentation of the physical and biological subjects will be
given from slightly different viewpoints. The presentation of the marine physics
will emphasize the recent development in this field, although given in a simple
way. On the other hand, the biological part will be presented through many
examples illustrating the interaction of ocean fluid mechanics with biological
life.
In organizing the material to be included, I was faced with the dilemma to use
either physics or biology as a framework. However, the physical phenomena, at
least from my perspective, flow more easily in an orderly and useful sequence.
Therefore the physics of oceanic flows was chosen provide the skeleton for the
book.
The text is divided into three parts. In Part I (Chapters 1-2), the classical
fluid mechanics phenomena such as laminar and turbulent flow, boundary layers, and forces induced by flow are examined. All these phenomena depend on
the properties of the fluid itself and the character of fluid motion.
Preface
ganisms and the environment, it is necessary to work with marine ecosystems
in which physical, chemical and biological components are equally important
in defining the total system properties. At present there are many reasons for
such an approach. Firstly, the fluid mechanical processes underlying some of
the large-scale biological phenomena are now better understood. There have
also been important advances in our ability to obtain continuous, fine-scale
biological data with a coverage and resolution comparable with the best physical data. Also, the need to understand marine ecological processes influencing
the greenhouse effect and other aspects of world climate, such as the flux of
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into surface waters and on down into the
deep ocean, is becoming more urgent. Finally, the increased understanding of
fundamental processes is beginning to influence the management of the ocean's
living resources.
For all of these reasons, there is a need to bring the attention of marine ecologists, oceanographers and marine engineers to how mechanics of ocean waters
interacts, influences and constrains the ocean's biological life. This proposed
book is dedicated to such an effort. The main objective of this book is to make
physical processes intelligible to biologists with a modicum of mathematics,
and make the nature of life in the sea understandable to oceanographers and
engineers. The book is directed to a diverse audience, such as marine biologists
and ecologists who would like to know more about the mechanisms by which
plants and animals live in the oceans, as well as physical oceanographers, engineers and fluid dynamicists who would like to see how their knowledge of
mechanics can be used to study marine ecology. Above all, I hope the book
will be interesting to readers who want to think about ocean water dynamics
and its biological implications.
The book is designed for graduate students, PhD students, postdoctoral students and scientists - biologists, ecologists, physicists and engineers working
on ocean environmental problems. Because of the large variety in the potential audience, the presentation of the physical and biological subjects will be
given from slightly different viewpoints. The presentation of the marine physics
will emphasize the recent development in this field, although given in a simple
way. On the other hand, the biological part will be presented through many
examples illustrating the interaction of ocean fluid mechanics with biological
life.
In organizing the material to be included, I was faced with the dilemma to use
either physics or biology as a framework. However, the physical phenomena, at
least from my perspective, flow more easily in an orderly and useful sequence.
Therefore the physics of oceanic flows was chosen provide the skeleton for the
book.
The text is divided into three parts. In Part I (Chapters 1-2), the classical
fluid mechanics phenomena such as laminar and turbulent flow, boundary layers, and forces induced by flow are examined. All these phenomena depend on
the properties of the fluid itself and the character of fluid motion.