Understanding the Oceans brings together an internationally distinguished group of authors to explore the enormous advances in marine science made since the voyage of HMS Challenger a century ago. The book draws inspiration from the seminal contributions stemming from that voyage, and individual chapters show how succeeding generations of scientists have been influenced by its findings. Covering the whole spectrum of the marine sciences, the book has been written and edited very much with the non-specialist reader in mind. Marine scientists, whether students or researchers, will welcome this authoritative comprehensive overview of their subject and its history; other scientists will find the book to be an accessible and informative introduction to marine science and its historical roots.

Section 1: The Historical Context; 1: The Challenger Expedition - the end of an era or a new beginning?; 2: 'Big Science' in Victorian Britain - the Challenger Expedition (1872-76) and its report (1881-95); 3: Oceanographic sovereigns - Prince Albert I of Monaco and King Carlos I of Portugal; 4: Expedition to investigation - the work of the Discovery Committee; Section 2: Ocean Basins; 5: Shape as a key to understanding the geology of the oceans; 6: Silent, strong and deep - the mystery of how basins fill; 7: Palaeoceanography - tapping the ocean's long-term memory; 8: Hydrothermal activity at mid-ocean ridges; Section 3; 9: Polar dreams and California sardines - Harald Ulrik Sverdrup and the study of ocean circulation prior to the Second World War; 10: Direct measurement of subsurface ocean currents - a success story; 11: Oceanography from space - past success, future challenge; 12: Transient tracers and tracer release experiments - new tools from the oceanographers; Section 4: The Ocean Ecosystem; 13: 'Problem-children of analytical chemistry.' Elucidating the seasonal cycle of marine plankton production through nutrient analysis; 14: Why is the sea salty - what controls the composition of ocean water?; 15: Deep-sea biology in the 1990s - a legacy of the Challenger Expedition; 16: The Challenger legacy - the next twenty years; 17: The Challenger Expedition on postage stamps