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Sea ice, which covers up to 7% of the planet's surface, is a major component of the world's oceans, partly driving ocean circulation and global climate patterns. It provides a habitat for a rich diversity of marine organisms, and is an extremely valuable source of information in studies of global climate change and the evolution of present day life forms. Increasingly sea ice is being used as a proxy for extraterrestrial ice covered systems.
Sea Ice provides a comprehensive review of our current available knowledge of polar pack ice, the study of which is severely constrained by the logistic difficulties of working in such harsh and remote regions of the earth. The book's editors, Drs Thomas and Dieckmann have drawn together an impressive group of international contributing authors, providing a well-edited and integrated volume, which will stand for many years as the standard work on the subject. Contents of the book include details of the growth, microstructure and properties of sea ice, large-scale variations in thickness and characteristics, its primary production, micro-and macrobiology, sea ice as a habitat for birds and mammals, sea ice biogeochemistry, particulate flux, and the distribution and significance of palaeo sea ice.
Sea Ice is an essential purchase for oceanographers and marine scientists, environmental scientists, biologists, geochemists and geologists. All those involved in the study of global climate change will find this book to contain a wealth of important information.
List of contents
Foreword by G. E. (Tony) Fogg. Acknowledgements.
Chapter 1 The Importance of Sea Ice: An Overview.
Chapter 2 From the Microscopic, to the Macroscopic, to the Regional Scale: Growth, Microstructure and Properties of Sea Ice.
Chapter 3 Dynamics versus Thermodynamics: The Sea Ice Thickness Distribution.
Chapter 4 Large Scale Characteristics and Variability of the Global Sea Ice Cover.
Chapter 5 Primary Production in Sea Ice.
Chapter 6 The Microbiology of Sea Ice.
Chapter 7 The Macrobiology of Sea Ice.
Chapter 8 Sea Ice: A Critical Habitat for Polar Marine Mammals and Birds.
Chapter 9 Biogeochemistry of Sea Ice.
Chapter 10 Particulate Flux From Sea Ice in Polar Waters.
Chapter 11 Palaeo Sea Ice Distribution - Reconstruction and Palaeoclimatic Significance.
Glossary.
Index
About the author
David Thomas is at the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, UK.
Gerhard Dieckmann is at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Summary
aeo truly multidisciplinary approach aeo world leading authors and editors aeo international in scope, covering both Arctic and Antarctic work aeo of vital interest to all those involved in global warming and climate change research aeo Highly illustrated text with a bonus of 26 colour plates.
