Marine science today is an area of rapid expansion. Scientific activity is in creasing, and a growing number of scientists are involved in one or more of its disciplines. For a thorough understanding of the marine environment, for its exploration, exploitation, and management, background knowledge of more than one discipline is required. A clear need therefore exists for a concise mul tidisciplinary oceanographic encyclopedia. The initiative for this book was taken by the Netherlands Institute of Sea Research, NIOZ, Texel, a multidisciplinary institute, founded in 1876. The second edition of...