1. Stratification and Circulation of the Ocean.- 1. Oceanic Processes with Different Temporal and Spatial Scales.- 2. Stratification of the Ocean.- 3. Large-scale Currents.- 4. Synoptic Processes.- 2. Theory of Rossby Waves.- 1. The Quasigeostrophic Approximation.- 2. Rossby Waves.- 3. Weak Turbulence on the ?-Plane.- 4. Rossby Solitons.- 3. Theory of Ocean Eddies.- 1. Baroclinic Instability of Large-scale Currents.- 2. Generation of Eddies by Bottom Relief.- 3. Generation of Eddies by Direct Forcing by the Atmosphere.- 4. Eddy-resolving Numerical Models.- 5. Statistical Dynamics of Ocean Eddies.- 4. Eddies of Western Boundary Currents.- 1. Gulf Stream Eddies.- 2. Eddies of the Kuroshio System.- 3. Eddies of Other Western Boundary Currents.- 5. Eddies in the Open Ocean.- 1. First Indications. ‘Polygon-70’ and MODE.- 2. Polymode.- 3. Eddies at Low Latitudes.- 4. Eddies at High Latitudes.- 5. Synoptic Eddies in the World Ocean.- 6. Applied Problems.- 1. Synoptic Eddies and Formation of Weather and Climate.- 2. Synoptic Variability of Hydrochemical and Hydrobiological Characteristics.- 3. Acoustic Applications.- Subject Inde.