Marine Science & Oceanography

We know that humans have influenced the environment in many ways in the past, but since the industrial revolution and even more during the "great acceleration in the human enterprise" following World War IT, humans have assumed the role of a dominating force in changing the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere, hydro- and cryosphere and hence affecting crucial functioning of the whole Earth system...

This publication prepared by a team of experts in marine science was released to provide the industry and all interested people with a platform allowing for the presentation of both regional and global perspectives of the experiences on responses to global changes to address the key issues, for example the increasing need for water, supply variability, environmental flows and other related aspects.

The content of the book will help readers to build the required links between policy/science and practice in the field of management and governance of the water resources. The book also addresses the latest technological and institutional innovations and also identifies the keys in which the research activities could assist the practice and policy related to the sustainable freshwater management. The proper management of the fresh water is considered one of the most important challenges to reach the sustainability within the global environment.

The volume prepared by a team of the world recognized specialists in the field of the oceanography was released as a brilliant result of their intention to provide the industry with the review of the researches conducted in different fields of the oceanography and concerned with the response of the sea in question to the changes in climate.

The East Japan Sea is quite unique because of the very rapid and seriously amplified response to the changes in climate, including the long-term trends of both chemical and physical parameters at a rate almost doubling the global rate. The present publication is aimed to demonstrate the results obtained from the previously released sources in a duly organized way, and also to introduce a significantly updated view of the relevant researches that have been carried out recently.

The content of the volume has been arranged in several chapters comprising the chemical, physical, geo- and biological aspects of the region in questions and the fisheries. The title has been specifically prepared for the students/researchers involved in the works related to the climate variability plus members of the oceanography community. The results presented in the book will also be of great use to the researchers working in the other fields.

This title is deservedly considered to be among the best ones in the famous Environmental Engineering series - the present volume is providing reader with all necessary information related to the hydrology itself, open-channel hydraulics, river ecology and restoration, transport of sediment, river morphology/engineering; GIS and remote sensing applications, plus making the decisions under uncertainty condition - a brand new paradigm for planning/management of water resources, upland erosion modeling, some of the very recent technical advances achieved in the field of water resources systems engineering, potential impact of climate changes on water resources, wetlands for waste water treatment and also re-use of water.

In addition, the Glossary has been provided, explaining the terminology used. The publication will definitely be considered practical and informative by the specialists with the need for ground-breaking and truly innovative technological advances in the subject fields.

The volume has been specifically worked out by a panel of recognized industry experts to serve as the supplemental textbook covering all important aspects of the water resource engineering. Lawrence and Chih Yang - the authors of the title - strongly hope its content of the volume will be useful for all people involved.

The present publication is dedicated toxins in the sea water and fresh water; it is intended to present the structure of the main toxins having the aquatic origin - the reader will find information relating to the distribution of subject toxins, producing various species and vectors, some of the important toxico-kinetic properties, regulatory management aspects etc. The main species of those associated with the injuries have also been addressed in this volume.

Among the marine toxins that have been covered within this publication there are ciguatoxina, equinatoxins, brevetoxins and some others - note that all of them could be lethal. Nowadays, both sea- and fresh water environments are considered new frontiers of humanity; however, the continuing increase in economic and tourist activities is provoking some nasty encounters between people and aquatic animals. The swimmers, surfers, divers and fishermen are becoming main victims. Unfortunately, today it is still not possible to adequately identify, know and treat the envenomations that are commonly caused by the poisonous and venomous animals.

Plus, it shall be underlined as necessary that we are still not fully aware of the huge potential of the pharmacologic effects their toxins may have. That is why it does make sense to go through the chapters of this volume to have better idea of this subject quite important any marine scientist.

This excellent volume is providing the informative insights into several important aspects of the marine faunal communities in the Indian region. Subject communities are considered extremely diversed, taking into account both climatic and geo-morphologic variations that can be observed along the coast of India. The publication consists of thirty chapters written based on the valuable contributions provided by the world recognized experts in the relevant fields.

The editors have divided the main content of the book into two major parts, with the first half covering the tropical marine faunal communities, and the second part addressing the problems of the ecology and conservation. The first part is mainly intended to provide readers with the highlight of the distribution and biological diversity of Foraminifera, echinoderms, oysters, fishes and crabs, horseshoe and Polychaets, various sponges commonly associated with the sea grass, various fish parasites and other representatives of marine fauna.

In turn, the second half of the publication includes the current status and relevant environmental parameters of benthos, together with the coral reefs, snowflake coral invasion, conservation and management of the biological diversity in the region, protected areas, methods of recovery of the bleached corals etc. The editors hope that the volume will be of some use for marine scientists and environmental managers, as well as to the policy makers.

The publication that is offered to our users today has been specifically prepared and released for the industry professionals who are working in the fields of applied maths, fluid mechanics, physical oceanography, geophysics and other related fields and also for the students learning subject disciplines. The authors have attempted to detail the significant progress that could easily be observed in the understanding of the most important physical mechanisms of the "rogue wave" phenomenon during last several years.

To discuss subject phenomenon, the authors have used the fully non-linear hydrodynamic numerical models. Throughout this interesting publication, the readers will find combinations of theoretical and empirical treatment required for the proper and complete examination of the problem. we would say that this book shall definitely be considered as a valuable and very helpful contribution to the technical literature that is covering the wave theory as well as statistics, since it helps to fill in the existing serious gap in people's knowledge of unusual waves.

The book will for sure present a great professional interest to both the engineers and scientists who are studying the physical oceanography as well as wave dynamics and other related aspects, or involved in the relevant scientific researches.

The energy of ocean waves and of the renewable energy resources provides quite small but still significant proportion of the future energy needs without adding to global warming and also pollution of the environment. The present concise and very practical reference book prepared by John Brook describes several alternative methods of application, and also sheds the light on the technical concepts standing behind the conversion of the waves energy; the author has also investigated the wave power activities all around the world.

The volume presents the exploration of the potential of the energy that can be obtained from the ocean waves - historically, this source of energy is well known for its great destructive power and strength. However, as you will see from this book, this source of energy can and shall be converted into useful work. Of course, some of the methods of conversion are still under development but there is some significant progress and subject systems will most probably be introduced soon.

The issue is that the cost of energy obtained using these methods, remains relatively high; however, they are expected to come down quite considerably, bearing in mind that the experience is growing. It is anticipated that this type of energy eventually replace or at least supplement significant portion of conventionally generated energy...

Despite the title of this volume, it is not the one that would enable the readers to accomplish what the meteorological services scattered all around the world are struggling to do; the book has been rather designed to instantly forecast when exactly the storm is due.

   What the author of this publication, professional sailor and meteorologist Alan Watts, tried to do was point out the key factors that people should consider when the pro- forecasters have made their storm predictions - and sometimes even if the professionals have not. This volume brings the sky and science together and is full of very useful tips on how to properly determine what is coming.

The book is very easy to use and is packed with numerous color images that perfectly illustrate various types of weather fronts and allow reader to understand what they would bring. The author has also included so many practical explanations and data table to make the theoretical text more understandable for the average user. The instructive images show the cloud formations and all other supplementary material has been added with the ultimate purpose to enable readers involved in outdoor activities assess their chances of being caught in a storm. Note that actually no other author of the forecasting-related texts uses the hands-on approach applied by Alan Watts. You may wish to have a look at this book on wind forecasting.