In essence, this book is an introduction to the theory of ocean currents. I
have not made an attempt to cover the widest possible range of problems
and to survey the very diverse and numerous studies undertaken in recent
years. In contrast, I wanted to select and study thoroughly only a minimum
amount of material which is required for an understanding of the features of
the large-scale motions of the water of the oceans.
First of all, I have endeavoured to demonstrate the link between the basic
concepts of the theory of ocean currents and the general laws of hydromechanics;
therefore the book contains a brief exposition of the foundations
of thermo-dynamics and hydro-dynamics of non-homogeneous fluids as well
as necessary prerequisites of tensor analysis. In describing different hydrodynamic
models of oceanic phenomena, special attention is given to a discussion
of the physical premises of the theory, methods of mathematical analysis
and comparison of theoretical results with observations. In principle, all
derivations are given of the results considered in this book.