River Discharge to the Coastal Ocean

Rivers provide the primary link between land and sea. Utilizing the world's largest database, this book presents a detailed analysis and synthesis of the processes affecting fluvial discharge of water, sediment and dissolved solids. It also discusses the ways in which climatic variation, episodic events and anthropogenic activities - past, present and future - affect the quantity and quality of river discharge. The book contains more than 165 figures - many in full color - including global and regional maps. An extensive appendix presents the 1534-river database as a series of 44 tables that provide quantitative data regarding the discharge of water, sediment and dissolved solids. The complete database is also presented within a GIS-based package available online at www.cambridge.org/milliman. Now available in paperback, reprinted with corrections, this is an invaluable resource for researchers, professionals and graduate students in hydrology, oceanography, geology, geomorphology and environmental policy. 'For university libraries and many research institutions dealing with global and regional change, this reference work is indispensable ... The authors who must have put an incredible amount of time and dedication into this work deserve great respect and thanks.' Jorg Matschullat, Environmental Earth Sciences 'This book is engaging. The writing style is clear, direct and informal, and the authors ... take the 'global' in the title seriously - the examples are nicely balanced around the world ... Anyone interested in continental- to global-scale particle and dissolved fluxes from the continents to the world ocean will benefit from having this material close at hand.' Chris Paola, OceanographyForeword; 1. Introduction; 2. Runoff, erosion and delivery to the coastal ocean; 3. Temporal variations; 4. Human impacts; Appendices. Global River Database: Appendix A: North and Central America; Appendix B: South America; Appendix C: Europe; Appendix D: Africa; Appendix E: Eurasia; Appendix F: Asia; Appendix G: Oceania; References; Index.