The Dance of Air and Sea

How can the tiny plankton in the sea just off Western Europe be affected by changes 6000 km away on the other side of the North Atlantic Ocean? How can a slight rise in the temperature of the surface of the Pacific Ocean have a devastating impact on amphibian life in Costa Rica? Living populations across the globe are connected by great swayings of the world's atmosphere and oceans, the largest of which is El Nino. For almost half a century, the numbers of some of the smallest animals in the North Sea have gone up and down as the Gulf Stream has moved north and south 4000 miles away at the coast of the USA. This connection has happened because the weather patterns over the North Atlantic are intertwined by a phenomenon first described by a Danish missionary in the eighteenth century, the North Atlantic Oscillation. In The Dance of Air and Sea Arnold Taylor focuses on the large-scale dynamics of the world's climate, looking at how the atmosphere and oceans interact, and the ways in which ecosystems in water and on land respond to changes in weather. He tells stories of how discoveries were made, and the scientists who made them; and he considers the crucial issues of how the discoveries aid our response to global warming.
"Taylor's description of how oceans work, the mechanics embodied in their modulating eddies and major currents, the Gulf Stream, the Kuroshio boundary current, and other phenomena will leave readers with a genuine sense of marvel. And there is no fall off when Taylor moves from the ocean to the air, weather and its interactions with the ocean, or to ecosystems and how they can warn us of the effects of global warming. One of the book's pleasures is his obvious delight in explaining not only how the ecosystem works but the creativity and doggedness that drives the scientists who study it. Aware of the undercurrents that threaten to distort the science of global warming, Taylor never simplifies or overstates. He meticulously provides the scientific background, sometimes in challenging detail, as he explores the planet's possible future." -Publishers Weekly

1. A 4000-mile Plankton Riddle; 2. The Ways of the Ocean: How the ocean side of the connection functions; 3. At the Behest of the Weather: How weather affects biological populations; 4. The Snake in the Mathematical Grass: How non-linearity limits predictability; 5. Every Wind has its Weather: How the world's weather system works; 6. The Tangled Skeins of the World's Weather: Global interconnections in weather patterns; 7. Action at a Distance: How the ocean affects the atmosphere and the North Atlantic Oscillation; 8. Lighthouses on the Shores of the Climate:How ecosystems can be particularly sensitive to climatic changes; 9. Drunken Trees in the Greenhouse: The greenhouse effect and global warming; 10. As the Tempo of the Dance Heats Up... : Implications for future climatic changes; Conclusion