The rationale for publishing a second edition of this monograph is that
this area of research continues to show remarkable advancement. The new
generation of synthetic aperture radar satellites has provided
unprecedented spatial resolution of sea surface features. In addition,
satellites to measure sea surface salinity have been launched.
Computational fluid dynamics models open new opportunities in
understanding the processes in the near-surface layer of the ocean and
their visibility from space. Passive acoustic methods for monitoring
short surface waves have significantly progressed. Of importance for
climate research, processes in the near-surface layer of the ocean
contribute to errors in satellite estimates of sea surface temperature
trends. Due to growing applications of near-surface science, it is
anticipated that more students will be trained in this area of research.
Therefore this second edition of the monograph is closer to a textbook
format.