The Blue Machine
How the Ocean Works
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
A Financial Times Best Science Book of 2023
“[A] profound, sparkling global ocean voyage.” —Andrew Robinson, Nature
A scientist’s exploration of the "ocean engine"—the physics behind the ocean’s systems—and why it matters.
All of Earth’s oceans, from the equator to the poles, are a single engine powered by sunlight, driving huge flows of energy, water, life, and raw materials. In The Blue Machine, physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski illustrates the mechanisms behind this defining feature of our planet, voyaging from the depths of the ocean floor to tropical coral reefs, estuaries that feed into shallow coastal seas, and Arctic ice floes.
Through stories of history, culture, and animals, she explains how water temperature, salinity, gravity, and the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates all interact in a complex dance, supporting life at the smallest scale—plankton—and the largest—giant sea turtles, whales, humankind. From the ancient Polynesians who navigated the Pacific by reading the waves, to permanent residents of the deep such as the Greenland shark that can live for hundreds of years, she introduces the messengers, passengers, and voyagers that rely on interlinked systems of vast currents, invisible ocean walls, and underwater waterfalls.
Most important, however, Czerski reveals that while the ocean engine has sustained us for thousands of years, today it is faced with urgent threats. By understanding how the ocean works, and its essential role in our global system, we can learn how to protect our blue machine. Timely, elegant, and passionately argued, The Blue Machine presents a fresh perspective on what it means to be a citizen of an ocean planet.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
University College London oceanographer Czerski (Storm in a Teacup) takes readers on a riveting "voyage through the global ocean," exploring its role in the planet's ecosystem and human cultures. The ocean "acts as an energy reservoir for the whole planet," Czerski contends, noting that the ocean's ability to store energy from the sun as heat during warmer months and release it when the air cools keeps the planet from experiencing "huge swings in temperature" that would be difficult for living organisms to survive. The ocean's microscopic residents can make big waves, she points out, explaining that as each hemisphere enters spring, the longer days lead to the proliferation of photosynthesizing plankton, which in turn draw larger creatures that feed on them and create mobile "rainforests" as they're carried together by currents. The cultural history fascinates, covering how surfing's importance to Hawaiian culture (kings and queens had "their own special surfboards") owes much to the rarity of squalls and gales on the islands, and how the historical markers of shipwrecks posted around Reykjavik's harbor betray Iceland's wary relationship with the surrounding ocean, which "can be fierce." Wide-ranging and meticulously detailed, this captures the wonder, beauty, and intrigue of its subject.
