This second edition of the widely acclaimed Geophysical Fluid Dynamics by Joseph Pedlosky offers the reader a high-level, unified treatment of the theory of the dynamics of large-scale motions of the oceans and atmosphere. Revised and updated, it includes expanded discussions of \* the fundamentals of geostrophic turbulence \* the theory of wave-mean flow interaction \* thermocline theory \* finite amplitude barocline instability The content of this book is based, largely, on the core curriculum in geophys ical fluid dynamics which I and my colleagues in the Department of Geophysical Sciences at The University of Chicago have taught for the past decade. Our purpose in developing a core curriculum was to provide to advanced undergraduates and entering graduate students a coherent and systematic introduction to the theory of geophysical fluid dynamics. The curriculum and the outline of this book were devised to form a sequence of courses of roughly one and a half academic years (five academic quarters) in length. The goal of the sequence is to help the student rapidly advance to the point where independent study and research are practical expectations. It quickly became apparent that several topics (e. g., some aspects of potential theory) usually thought of as forming the foundations of a fluid-dynamics curriculum were merely classical rather than essential and could be, however sadly, dispensed with for our purposes. At the same time, the diversity of interests of our students is so great that no curriculum can truly be exhaust ive in such a curriculum period. It seems to me that the best that can be achieved as a compromise is a systematic introduction to some important segment of the total scope of geophysical fluid dynamics which is illustrative of its most fruitful methods. The content of this book is based, largely, on the core curriculum in geophys ical fluid dynamics which land my colleagues in the Department of Geophysical Sciences at The University of Chicago have taught for the past decade. The atmosphere and the ocean have so many fluid-dynamical properties in common that the study of one often enriches our understanding of the other.
