SEA ICE: AN INTRODUCTION TO ITS PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND GEOLOGY; ED. BY DAVID N. THOMAS

Sea ice, which covers up to 7% of the planet’s surface, is a major component of the world’s oceans, partly driving ocean circulation and global climate patterns. It provides a habitat for a rich diversity of marine organisms, and is an extremely valuable source of information in studies of global climate change and the evolution of present day life forms. Increasingly sea ice is being used as a proxy for extraterrestrial ice covered systems. Sea Ice provides a comprehensive review of our current available knowledge of polar pack ice, the study of which is severely constrained by the logistic difficulties of working in such harsh and remote regions of the earth. The book’s editors, Drs Thomas and Dieckmann have drawn together an impressive group of international contributing authors, providing a well-edited and integrated volume, which will stand for many years as the standard work on the subject. Contents of the book include details of the growth, microstructure and properties of sea ice, large-scale variations in thickness and characteristics, its primary production, micro-and macrobiology, sea ice as a habitat for birds and mammals, sea ice biogeochemistry, particulate flux, and the distribution and significance of palaeo sea ice. Sea Ice is an essential purchase for oceanographers and marine scientists, environmental scientists, biologists, geochemists and geologists. All those involved in the study of global climate change will find this book to contain a wealth of important information. All libraries in universities and research establishments where these subjects are studied and taught will need multiple copies on their shelves. David Thomas is at the School of Ocean Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, UK. Gerhard Dieckmann is at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany Sea ice, which covers up to 7 per cent of the planet's surface, is a major component of the world's oceans, partly driving ocean circulation and global climate patterns. It provides a habitat for a rich diversity of marine organisms, and is an extremely valuable source of information in studies of global climate change and the evolution of present day life forms. Increasingly sea ice is being used as a proxy for extraterrestrial ice covered systems. Sea Ice provides a comprehensive review of our current available knowledge of polar pack ice, the study of which is severely constrained by the logistic difficulties of working in such harsh and remote regions of the earth. The book's editors, Drs Thomas and Dieckmann have drawn together an impressive group of international contributing authors, providing a well-edited and integrated volume, which will stand for many years as the standard work on the subject. Contents of the book include details of the growth, microstructure and properties of sea ice, large-scale variations in thickness and characteristics, its primary production, micro-and macrobiology, sea ice as a habitat for birds and mammals, sea ice biogeochemistry, particulate flux, and the distribution and significance of palaeo sea ice. Sea Ice is an essential purchase for oceanographers and marine scientists, environmental scientists, biologists, geochemists and geologists. All those involved in the study of global climate change will find this book to contain a wealth of important information. All libraries in universities and research establishments where these subjects are studied and taught will need multiple copies on their shelves Sea ice, which covers up to 7% of the planet's surface, is a major component of the world's oceans, an important component of ocean circulation and global climate patterns. It provides a habitat for a rich diversity of marine organisms, and is a valuable source of information in studies of global climate change and the evolution of present day life forms. Increasingly, sea ice is being used as a proxy for extraterrestrial ice covered systems. This important text provides a comprehensive review of our current knowledge of polar pack ice, the study of which is severely constrained by the logistic difficulties of working in such harsh and remote regions of the earth. The book's editors, Drs Thomas and Dieckmann, have drawn together an impressive group of international authors, providing a well-edited and integrated volume that will stand for many years as the standard work on the subject. Contents of the book include details of the growth, microstructure and properties of sea ice, large-scale variations in thickness and characteristics, its primary production, micro-and macrobiology, sea ice as a habitat for birds and mammals, sea ice biogeochemistry, particulate flux, and the distribution and significance of palaeo sea ice. SEAICE: An Introduction to its Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geology 3 Contents 7 Foreword 9 Acknowledgements 16 Chapter 1 The Importance of Sea Ice: An Overview 17 Chapter 2 From the Microscopic, to the Macroscopic, to the Regional Scale: Growth, Microstructure and Properties of Sea Ice 38 Chapter 3 Dynamics versus Thermodynamics: The Sea Ice Thickness Distribution 98 Chapter 4 Large-scale Characteristics and Variability of the Global Sea Ice Cover 128 Chapter 5 Primary Production in Sea Ice 159 Chapter 6 The Microbiology of Sea Ice 200 Chapter 7 The Macrobiology of Sea Ice 227 Chapter 8 Sea Ice: A Critical Habitat for Polar Marine Mammals and Birds 256 Chapter 9 Biogeochemistry of Sea Ice 283 Chapter 10 Particulate Flux From Sea Ice in Polar Waters 319 Chapter 11 Palaeo Sea Ice Distribution – Reconstruction and Palaeoclimatic Significance 349 Glossary 389 Index 401 Following the initial freezing of sea water, sea ice is profoundly modified by the interaction of physical, biological and chemical processes to form an extremely heterogeneous semi-solid matrix.