This book grew out of lectures on geophysical fluid dynamics delivered
over many years at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology by the
author (and, with regard to some parts of the book, by his colleagues).
During these lectures the students were advised to read many books, and
sometimes individual articles, in order to acquaint themselves with the
necessary material, since there was no single book available which
provided a sufficiently complete and systematic account (except,
perhaps, the volumes on Hydrophysics of the Ocean, Hydrodynamics of the
Ocean, and Geodynamics in the ten-volume Oceanology series published by
Nauka Press in 1978-1979; these refer, however, specifically to the
ocean, and anyway they are much too massive to be convenient for study
by students). As far as we know, no text corresponding to our
understanding of geophysical fluid dynamics has as yet been published
outside the Soviet Union. The present book is designed to fill this gap.
Since it is customary to write the preface after the entire book has
been completed, the author has an opportunity there to raise some points
of possible criticism by the reviewers and readers. First of all, note
that this work presents the theoretical fundamentals of geophysical
fluid dynamics, and that observational and experimental data (which in
the natural sciences are always very copious) are referred to only
rarely and briefly.