Somewhere in the heart of the Sargasso Sea, according to legend, there lies a calm body of water where all the wrecked ships of history find their way. Peter Sutherland, a youngish college professor weathering his first divorce, takes a Caribbean cruise in search of relaxation. Suddenly, a violent storm comes up, and sweeps him out into the Atlantic, clinging to a small rowboat. After many days, he is rescuedby the gentle people who live on the Drift, a floating city of French brigantines, Spanish galleons, English caravels, and Portugese men-of-war, hidden for hundreds of years at the center of the Sargasso Sea. Although incredulous at first, Peter slowly falls under the spell of the beguiling paradise in which he has awakened, a process hastened by the presence of Pao, a bewitching, dark-haired girl of seventeen who hopes to charm him so completely that he will never want to leave her. As his love for Pao deepens, Peter's mind and senses grow strangely alive, and he finds himself immersed in a world of feeling and intuition he has never known. Both frightened and attracted by the power of the Drift, Peter must finally wrestle with the dilemma of how, and whether, to return to the land-locked life from which he has been both exiled and released. Beneath the hauntingly lovely surface of this novel, the author has dislodged some bedrock questions about the nature of man's life, and the choices with which we are all confronted. In Peter's agonizing attempt to decide whether the Drift is real or only a seductive hallucination, and in his dilemma of whether to stay or leave, the reader will find a disturbing echo of his own fantasies about what is "real", or possible, or even desirable, within the private Drift that each of us inhabits.

Continental Drift brings together within one volume a discussion of the geophysical evidence relating to horizontal movements in the earth's crust in its widest sense. This is not the time for a reappraisal of the work of German meteorologist Alfred Wegener, but it is hoped that this volume will stimulate a serious interest in a subject formerly considered by many earth scientists as already closed. The book contains 12 chapters and begins with a discussion of paleomagnetic evidence for continental drift and its geophysical cause. This is followed by separate chapters on of paleoclimatic evidence on the paleomagnetic latitudes given by paleomagnetism; studies of earthquake mechanism; movements on major transcurrent faults; and magnetic evidence for horizontal displacements in the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Subsequent chapters deal with thermal convection in the earth's mantle; the theory of convection in spherical shells and its application to the problem of thermal convection in the earth's mantle; mountain-building hypotheses; and investigations of the deep-sea floor.

Describes the expansion of the land-based paleomagnetic case for drifting continents and recounts the golden age of marine geoscience.

The Second Edition of The Drift of Sea Ice presents the fundamental laws of sea ice drift which come from the material properties of sea ice and the basic laws of mechanics. The resulting system of equations is analysed for the general properties of sea ice drift, the free drift model and analytical models for ice drift in the presence of internal friction, and the construction of numerical ice drift models is detailed. This second edition of a much lauded work, unique on this topic in the English language, has been revised, updated and expanded with much new information and outlines recent results, in particular in relation to the climate problem, mathematical modelling and ice engineering applications. The current book presents the theory, observations, mathematical modelling techniques, and applications of sea ice drift science. The theory is presented from the beginning on a graduate student level, so that students and researchers coming from other fields such as physical oceanography, meteorology, physics, engineering, environmental sciences or geography can use the book as a source book or self-study material. First the drift ice material is presented ending with the concept of ‘ice state’ – the relevant properties in sea ice dynamics. Ice kinematics observations are widely presented with the mathematical analysis methods, and thereafter come drift ice rheology – to close the triangle material – kinematics – stress. The momentum equation of sea ice is derived in detail and its general properties are carefully analysed. Then follow two chapters on analytical models: free drift and drift in the presence of internal friction: These are very important tools in understanding the dynamical behaviour of sea ice. The last topical chapter is numerical models, which are the modern tool to solve ice dynamics problem in short term and long term problems. The closing chapter summarises sea ice dynamics applications and the need of sea ice dynamic knowledge and gives some final remarks on the future of this branch of science.