Geographical Review 



EXCERPT FROM VOL. 52 NO. 4 19 62 pp.624-625 



PUBLISHED BY 



The American Geographical Society 

 OF New York 



BROADWAY AT 156tli ST., NEW YORK 32, N. Y. 



Hudson Laboratories, Columbia University Contribution No. l6l. 



PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY. By Albert Defant. Vol. i, xvi and 729 pp.; Vol. 2, 

 viii and 598 pp.; maps, diagrs., ills., bibliogrs.. indexes. Pergamon Press, New York, 

 Oxford, London, Paris, 1961. $35.00. 10 x 6^ inches. 



The oceans have been described in exciting dramas, which use the violence or desolateness 

 of the sea to draw out human traits. Except for an occasional storm, tidal wave, or other 

 such phenomenon, one tends to consider the oceans uninteresting in themselves. Neverthe- 

 less, by subtle movements resulting from small changes m the properties of water, these 

 millions of square miles of liquid establish conditions that allow man to exist on earth. 

 The mechanism behind this forms a part of the general description of oceanic movements 

 in Defant's two-volume work on physical oceanography. Even marine life is excluded 

 from this overdue tribute to the seas. 



Oceanography has gained much from Professor Defant's past contributions, and it is 

 fortimate that a man of his stature has written these volumes. His insight and his organiza- 

 tion of material have resulted in a work that in other hands could have been a shambles 

 instead of a badly needed coherent description of the state of physical oceanography. He 

 has considered literature written up to May, 1957, and the vitality of the field is such that 

 this study can now be regarded as a st.arting reference work. 



The first pages of Volume 1 present a description of the oceans — their extent, the dis- 

 tribution of temperature, salinity, and density, their water budget and conversion into ice 

 near the poles. The remainder of the volume reviews pertinent physical concepts and applies 

 them to the general problem of water circulation in all parts ot the oceans. Some welcome 

 elaborations of hydrodynamic situations are also presented. 



Waves and tides form the subject matter ot the second volume. Again, basic physical 

 ideas are clarified before the author goes into the extensive literature describing the periodic 

 movements of the sea. The treatment is thorough enough to encompass, for example, the 

 water transport associated with irrotational surface waves. 



Professor Defant wrote this work in German over a period of years. Fortimately, the 

 Office of Naval Research, United States Navy, was willing to sponsor its translation into 

 Enghsh, This must have been a formidable undertaking, and the occasional clumsy sentence 

 constructions are easily forgiven. — T. E. Pochapsky 



