The intent of Introduction to Geophysical Fluid Dynamics—Physical and Numerical Aspects is to introduce its readers to the principles governing air and water flows on large terrestrial scales and to the methods by which these flows can be simulated on the computer.

This book discusses how—by analysis of the physical felds and processes within and on the Earth—we learn how old the Earth is, about its internal structure and external form, and about the causes and properties of its magnetic and temperature felds. What will not be discussed are the geophysical survey methods for characterizing the upper crust that are used to explore for mineral ore deposits and hydrocarbon reservoirs; specialized textbooks should be consulted for these.

The energy of a molecule consists partly of translational energy, partly of rotational energy, partly of vibrational energy, and partly of electronic energy. For a first approximation these energy contributions can be considered separately. Electronic energy transitions normally give rise to absorption or emission in the ultraviolet and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Pure rotation gives rise to absorption in the microwave region or the far infrared. Molecular vibrations give rise to absorption bands throughout most of the infrared region of the spectrum. In this book we shall mainly be concerned with the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with molecular vibrations and rotations.  <...>

A large economic mineral deposit, e.g. 200 Mt underlying an area of 2 km2, is minute in comparison with the Earth’s crust and in most countries the easily found deposits cropping out at the surface have nearly all been found. The deposits for which we now search are largely concealed by weathered and leached outcrops, drift, soil, or some other cover, and sophisticated exploration methods are required to find them. The target material is referred to as a mineral deposit, unless we use a more specific term such as coal, gas, oil, or water. Mineral deposits contain mineral resources. What sort of mineral deposit should we seek? To answer this question it is necessary to have some understanding of mineral economics. <...>