The Near-Surface Layer of the Ocean

The rationale for publishing a second edition of this monograph is that this area of research continues to show remarkable advancement. The new generation of synthetic aperture radar satellites provided unprecedented spatial resolution of the sea surface features. In addition, satellites to measure sea surface salinity have been launched. Computational fluid dynamic models open new opportunities in understanding the processes in the near-surface layer of the ocean and their visibility from space. Passive acoustic methods for monitoring short surface waves have significantly progressed. Estimation of the errors in satellite measurements of long-term global sea surface temperature trends due to processes in the near-surface layer of the ocean has become important for climate research. Due to growing applications of the results, it is anticipated that more students are going to be trained in this area of research. Therefore this second edition of the monograph is closer to a textbook format.