METEOROLOGICAL APPLICATIONSMeteorol. Appl. 15: 535 (2008)

BOOK REVIEW

NUMERICAL MODELING OF OCEAN CIRCULATION,by Robert N. Miller. 2007. Cambridge University Press. 242pages. ISBN 9780521781824.

‘Oceans are an essential part of the climate system’begins the front matter. Numerical ocean modelling is akey element of modelling and understanding the climatesystem. Twenty years ago it would have been rare for anobservational oceanographer to consult numerical modeloutput in planning a field campaign. Today the reverseis true. Numerical modelling of the ocean, for a varietyof applications, has made great advances both throughincrease in computational resource and the advances inour ability to effectively use that resource.

Numerical Modeling of Ocean Circulation grew out ofa graduate level course at Oregon State University. Itprovides an introduction to students with a backgroundin theoretical physical oceanography and some familiaritywith numerical analysis. There is a concentration on finitedifferences that reflects the popularity of this method withthe wider ocean modelling community.

The book begins with a brief introduction to numeri-cal analysis. The one-dimensional advection equation isused as a prototype to illustrate ideas of consistency,stability, convergence, numerical dissipation and numer-ical dispersion. More detail in this chapter would be ofbenefit. There follows an admirable chapter on the numer-ical solution of the shallow water equations. The readeris taken from the basic one-dimensional linear problemto fully non-linear gyre solutions. The role of staggeredgrids and conservation laws are examined. The exercisesat the end of these early chapters are helpful in reinforcingand exploiting the knowledge gained.

The largest chapter covers primitive equation mod-els. It follows the pioneering approach taken by Bryanand Cox at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Labora-tory, Princeton, in the 1960s. A rigid-lid and streamfunction formulation for the barotropic mode providesa particular focus of attention. This is fine from an his-torical perspective but more modern free surface methodsshould be covered in at least as much detail. The chapterincludes some excellent case studies taken from classicpapers on the spin-up of three-dimensional models andthe importance of vertical resolution. Alternative verti-cal coordinate systems (different to the standard z-level)are introduced and the pros and cons of these examined.

The chapter ends with a discussion of the results froma number of fine-resolution models (up to 1/10° in thehorizontal).

The book concludes with three short chapters on quasi-geostrophic models, models of the coastal ocean andmodels of the tropical ocean. The chapter on quasi-geostrophic models was too short to be useful and couldeasily have been omitted. Coastal models are covered bythree descriptive case studies of peer-reviewed researchpapers. Two of the studies utilize the Princeton OceanModel (POM) while the third demonstrates the benefitsof the finite element method. The exercises at the end ofthis chapter are largely unrelated to numerical modelling.The chapter on the tropics includes a theoretical treatmentof equatorial waves and a discussion of the behaviour ofthese waves in a variety of numerical models.

The aim of the book is to ‘provide the student withthe context in which discussion of numerical modellingis conducted’, rather than a ‘state of the ocean mod-elling art’. This leaves large gaps, self-acknowledged insome cases, for example, parameterization of turbulentprocesses, data assimilation, and the treatment of sur-face forcing and boundary conditions. However, mucheffort is put into open boundary conditions, which couldbe regarded as more peripheral and yet are discussed inquite some detail in a number of chapters.

Overall the book is written in a very readable style. Thefigures are of good quality and the reproductions are oftenbetter than the online versions available from originalpublishers. The index is rather limited. The publisherpromises additional online resources, but there appearsto be nothing available that is not in the book (Table ofcontents, Excerpt, Index, Copyright and Front matter).There are a few typographical and minor errors (as withmany first editions). However with some updating in asecond edition this could become a very good first textin numerical ocean modelling.

David StevensUniversity of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Published online in Wiley InterScience(www.interscience.wiley.com).

DOI: 10.1002/met.103

Copyright 2008 Royal Meteorological Society