Electronic books

Matthias Tomczak was Professor of Oceanography at the School of Chemistry, Physics and Earth Sciences (Flinders University of South Australia) until 2006. This was the official European mirror of his home site that has no longer been maintained since his retirement. You will find his lecture notes and exercices on Physical Oceanography as well as some very interesting web tools (calculators of seawater properties, calendar systems, etc.) in English, Catalan and Spanish languages.

Classic book with a multidisciplinary view of the ocean written by pioneer oceanographers lead by Prof. H.U. Sverdrup. The book was published in 1942 and despite the years it is a very complete book about the oceans. You can browse through the contents or download the chapters in pdf format.

Book published in 1980 to mark the career of Henry Stommel, the most influential physical oceanographer of the XXth century. The book contains 18 chapters written by well known researchers as a state of the art of our knowledge about the oceans. The chapters are self-contained with high level presentation recommended as a textbook for advanced courses.

This supplement to Oceanography magazine (September 2009) focuses on educational approaches to help engage students in learning and offers a collection of hands-on/minds-on activities for teaching physical concepts that are fundamental in oceanography. These key concepts include density, pressure, buoyancy, heat and temperature, and gravity waves.

Report on the evidences of Climate Change effects in the physical properties of the Mediterranean waters since 1948, from the contributions made by Spanish institutions (IEO, ICM-CSIC, PdE, IMEDEA-CSIC, UMA, UIB, INM) involved in the monitoring, analysis and modelling of the Mediterranean sea. Edited by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía (updated second edition, 2010).

PhysicalGeography.net is an educational web portal on physical geography understood as a sub-discipline of Geography and Earth Sciences. Created and maintained since 1999 by Dr. Michael Pidwirny from Scott Jones University (British Columbia, Canada). The aim is to explain the characteristics of various natural phenomena associated with the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere. More than 2 milion users in 2013.

An excellent site and textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in oceanography, meteorology and ocean engineering. Although Professor H. Stewart retired in 2009 the site is still maintained by Texas A&M University and provides access to many additional resources. You can also download the contents in PDF format.

Textbook (2003) suitable for a college or advanced course to introduce graduate students to the essentials of oceanography. It starts with 5 chapters on the basic principles of ocean circulation and 14 more devoted to different oceanic regions. A version with colour graphics is available on line on this website.

A magnific course (2004) of 35 chapters on the relationship between scientific and technological knowledge and the development of civilizations and societies through a time walk from the primitive cultures to modern society. An interesting reflection on the interrelation of science-culture-society.<

A web-based ocean current reference site from the University of Miami. Each current has important links, summary text detailing velocity and hydrographic observations, and plots such as average current speed and locations, drifting buoy positions, sea surface temperature maps, and HYCOM simulations.

Michael E. Ritter is Professor of Geography/Geology at University of Wisconsin. An excellent educational site on physical geography with 21 chapters covering at an introductory level a large number of topics on Earth geography. A website awarded for its educational value including a lot of multimedia contents.