X Preface 



up-to-date. This time-taking job was done at the International Institute of Meteorology 

 in Stockholm, thanks to a kind invitation by the late Prof. C. G. Rossby shortly before 

 his untimely death. It remains a pleasure and self-evident duty to express my gratitude 

 towards the present director of the Institute, Docent Dr. B. Bolin, as well as towards 

 his closer co-workers, for their interest, and for all the Institute facihties at my disposal, 

 whereby my work benefited greatly. During my six-month stay in Stockholm the first 

 volume of the book was translated (Physics of the Ocean, Statics and Dynamics of 

 Ocean Currents) (translator Ing. H. E. Knoll, Stockholm), while the second volume 

 (Waves, Tides and Related Phenomena) already drafted years ago was translated by 

 Dr. Louis Lek, La Jolla, California. I express my thanks to both translators for the 

 trouble they undertook. As modes of expression differ among languages it is natural 

 that the detailed refinements of the originally German formulation and presentation 

 naturally suffered to some extent, but I hope that a still representative version of the 

 contents has satisfactorily been achieved. All this, however, could not have been 

 completed had not my son Prof. Fr. Defant, on leave from the weather service and the 

 University of Innsbruck, Austria, been present at the Stockholm Institute, engaged in 

 investigations on the General Circulation of the Atmosphere. He also devoted his time 

 to my work, especially concerning detailed revisions of the translations and the com- 

 pletion of the large amount of illustrations. For this troublesome work, which for him 

 also meant loss of time, I am especially grateful. 



The printing of this textbook would have been doubtful had not the Office of Naval 

 Research, in the first place (Dr. Atkins and Mr. G. Lill, Office of Naval Research, Wash. 

 D.C.), generously sponsored the undertaking, at the same time conceding to my 

 wishes with regard to its publication. Furthermore, I wish to thank Commander 

 C. Palmer of the U.S. Navy, at present with the International Institute, Stockholm, 

 for additional help. 



The publishing has been done by Pergamon Press, Oxford, in its well-known and 

 outstanding manner, and I express my gratitude in the first place to the publisher, 

 Captain I. R. Maxwell. Also to Mr. Buchanan my heartful thanks and appreciation for 

 the excellent drafting of the numerous illustrations. 



Physical Oceanography consists of two volumes, each having two sub-parts. The 

 first part of Volume I deals with the spatial, material and energetical characteristics of 

 the water envelope of the earth, as well as with the evaporation problem and the ice in 

 the sea. For this reason it specially involves the physical and chemical properties of 

 sea-water, the spatial distributions of the oceanographic elements in the total oceanic 

 space and its periodic as well as aperiodic changes. The second part of Volume I 

 concerns the various modes of motion of sea-water in the form of ocean-currents 

 (dynamic oceanography). Finally, Volume II is devoted to periodic movements of the 

 water masses (waves, tides and related phenomena). The individual problems of 

 physical oceanography are discussed in as much detail and supported as far as possible 

 by appropriate examples and references to existing compilations of observational 

 data. The scientific progress of the last decades has been considered almost completely, 

 not only with regard to the observational facts, but also concerning the theoretical 

 treatment and explanation of the observed phenomena. The oceanographic literature 

 has been considered in its entirety to the end of May 1957. Extensive reference lists are 



