About This Book

First off, it’s FREE! That means you are free to share it, free to post it on your website, and free to link to it on social media. Some of the photos and illustrations in this book are also free to use (for non-commercial purposes). We only ask you give us credit and provide a link to the appropriate creative commons license.

Our World Ocean, Essentials, offers a selection of chapters used for teaching college-level introductory oceanography classes. It borrows from a five-volume series in progress. Voyage I, Ocean Science (5 chapters) covers the scientific method as it’s practiced by oceanographers and the technology they use to carry out 21st-century oceanographic research. Voyage II (6 chapters) presents the geology and chemistry of the ocean with an eye toward understanding climate change in the geologic past. Voyage III (9 chapters) explores the physics of the ocean and especially its role in the transport of heat in the Earth system. Voyage IV (17 chapters) dives into the biology of the ocean, from microbes to whales, highlighting the functional roles of organisms and their transfer of materials and energy within ecosystems. Voyage V (8 chapters) brings it all together with a peek at ecological thinking about the ocean and human interactions with ocean ecosystems.

This five-book approach allows us to better serve a diverse community of readers and teachers. Bundled chapters permit us to modify and update smaller sets of materials and make them available more quickly than a single book with 45 chapters. Some folks won’t be interested in all of the topics. Some folks won’t want to teach all the topics. So we figured a bundled approach would provide greater flexibility. That said, we’re happy to bundle individual chapters together for your classroom. Call it a customized essentials version. Otherwise, we’re happy to help you use the book in every way possible. Feel free to reach out using the contact form at the bottom of this page.