From Publishers Weekly
With the Canadian Hydrographic Service compiling decades of multination collaborative research, a team of oceanographers writing the text and Dr. Manfred Leier serving as editor, the World Atlas of the Oceans details the entire ocean floor. This giant book offers clear, informative text (rather like an encyclopedia entry in tone), but its real strength is its visual richness: the full-color relief maps, bathymetrics charts, satellite images, illustrations and underwater photographs. From the Arctic to the Mediterranean, and from Namibia's "sulfur pearls" (the world's largest bacteria) to Alaska's "black smokers" (deep-sea oases), this atlas will please anyone with an interest in oceanography, cartography, biology and geology.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Oceans and seas cover most of our planet, almost 71 percent. It is not surprising, then, to find that an atlas of the world's oceans would contain a wealth of information. This work begins with several sections about oceans in general, including relief maps as well as chapters on "How the Oceans Were Formed" and "The Ocean as a Habitat and Commercial Area." The section that follows contains bathymetric charts documenting the levels of individual oceans and basins.
The General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) contained in this atlas is the result of a collaborative effort among the world's major seafaring nations. Until now, it was available only in a small edition published in the 1980s by the Canadian Hydrographic Organization and known only to specialists. In the atlas, the GEBCO charts are juxtaposed with highly detailed relief maps drawn for the National Geographic Society during the 1960s and 1970s. Readers will find that the bathymetric charts, which follow U.N. naming conventions, generally list water names in English and land names in national spellings. This is unlike place-names found on the relief maps, which are in English, but the publisher does alert users to this in an introductory note.
The habitats and commerce section is extensive and covers many fascinating topics such as ocean currents and tides, hurricane formation, sea life, sea trade, oil and mineral deposits, and canals and ports. There is even information on sunken ships and treasure and shipwrecks of the twentieth century. Each topic warrants a two-page spread with photographs, maps, tables, or all of the above. Some of this information may be hard to access, because only place-names are included in the index.
The photographs in this volume are stunning. Relief maps and satellite images provide detailed information, and the definition and color of maps and charts increase their ease of use. This oversize work is large (each two-page spread is 14 inches by 20 inches) and heavy, and the binding is less than desirable. For the price, it would be a useful and up-to-date addition to a public or academic library's reference collection. RBB
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