Textbooks

Sharples, J., Oceanography - the Basics. Routledge, 2026. Due out in May 2026. This book is aimed at year 1 undergraduates. It takes a multidisciplinary approach to understanding how the ocean works, using my own research and teaching interests to link ocean physics through to the growth and distribution of plankton and how the ocean plays a role in Earth’s climate. Contents: Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Temperature, Salinity, and Density 3. The Plankton 4. The Circulation of the Ocean 5. Tides and Other Waves 6. Global Patterns in Primary Production 7. The Shelf Seas 8. The Ocean and Earth’s Climate 9. Measuring the Ocean Glossary References Additional resources: • Additional reading. • Links to datasets. • End-of-chapter questions. Simpson, J. H., and J. Sharples. An Introduction to the Physical and Biological Oceanography of Shelf Seas. Cambridge University Press, 2012. This textbook describes the physical processes that operate in shelf seas, and the effects that the physics has on shelf sea biology. It is aimed at final year undergraduates and postgraduate students. The book website provides additional resources, including numerical models and samples of observational data. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction to the shelf seas 2. Physical forcing of the shelf seas: what drives the motion of ocean? 3. Response to forcing: the governing equations and some basic solutions 4. Waves, turbulent motions and mixing 5. Life in the shelf seas 6. Seasonal stratification and the spring bloom 7. Interior mixing and phytoplankton survival in stratified environments 8. Tidal mixing fronts: their location, dynamics and biological significance 9. Regions of freshwater influence (ROFIs) 10. The shelf edge system 11. Future challenges in shelf seas References Index Additional resources: • Matlab modules demonstrating key shelf sea physical processes. • A 1-D (vertical) numerical model of shelf sea physics and the response of the phytoplankton (Windows application). • All figures from the book. • Observational datasets and suggested student exercises.