The Arctic and its surrounding marginal seas are considered some of the most sensitive elements of the global environment, which may respond rapidly to climate change. However, due to various reasons, our knowledge of the processes which drive the Arctic system today and in the past is still relatively sparse. Based on a multidisciplinary approach, German and Russian scientists describe in this book the natural paleorecords and modern data which were collected over the past 6 years. These marine and terrestrial datasets provide important new insights into the causes, impacts, and feedback mechanisms of this extreme Arctic environment.

Oceans account for 50% of the anthropogenic CO2 released into the atmosphere. During the past 15 years an international programme, the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), has been studying the ocean carbon cycle to quantify and model the biological and physical processes whereby CO2 is pumped from the ocean's surface to the depths of the ocean, where it can remain for hundreds of years. This project is one of the largest multi-disciplinary studies of the oceans ever carried out and this book synthesises the results. It covers all aspects of the topic ranging from air-sea exchange with CO2, the role of physical mixing, the uptake of CO2 by marine algae, the fluxes of carbon and nitrogen through the marine food chain to the subsequent export of carbon to the depths of the ocean. Special emphasis is laid on predicting future climatic change.

The flux, preservation, and accumulation of organic carbon in marine systems are controlled by various mechanisms including primary p- duction of the surface water, supply of terrigenous organic matter from the surrounding continents, biogeochemical processes in the water column and at the seafloor, and sedimentation rate. For the world's oceans, phytoplankton productivity is by far the largest organic carbon 9 source, estimated to be about 30 to 50 Gt (10 tonnes) per year (Berger et al. 1989; Hedges and Keil 1995). By comparison, rivers contribute -1 about 0. 15 to 0. 23 Gt y of particulate organi.

This study analyzes carbon-cycle conditions controlling the state of the Arctic ecosystem and their seasonal variations. Territory covered includes the Barents, White, Kara, Laptev, East-Siberian and Chukchi Seas, considering inter-correlations between sources of organic carbon, their fluxes, recycling and burial in bottom sediments. All biological communities (phythoplankton, macrophythobenthos, microphythobentos, bacterioplankton, zooplankton and zoobenthos) are taken into account regarding their participation in the carbon cycle.

Sound Images of the Ocean is the first comprehensive overview of acoustic imaging applications in the various fields of marine research, utilization, surveillance, and protection. The book employs 400 sound images of the sea floor and of processes in the sea volume, contributed by more than 120 marine experts from 22 nations.

This reference book for researchers working on glacial sediments provides a complete overview of the various glacial deposits in the ocean. It presents a collection of worldwide data on glacio-marine phenomena.

"This volume contributes to the current discussion of the role of natural and anthropogenic driving forces for coastal processes and their socioeconomic consequences. Special attention is paid to computerized tools that allow us--based on reconstruction of paleodevelopments--to predict the interference of processes on different time scales. On the one hand, the book provides an overview of the current model developments in describing vertical crustal movement, climate change forcing sea-level variations, the genesis of the basin fill along continental margins, and the interference of these processes in coastal development. On the other hand, it describes coastal development in key areas for different climate zones and geological settings. Coastline Changes is addressed to students and professionals in the geosciences, archaeology, social sciences, economy, and computer sciences. It will foster interdisciplinary discussion for the purpose of developing integrated concepts for sustainable development of the coastal zones."--Publisher's website.

Concerns about the effects of global climate change have focused attention on the vulnerability of circumpolar regions. This book offers a synthesis of the spectrum of techniques available for generating long-term environmental records from circumpolar lakes.