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Sea-level Science: Understanding Tides,

Surges, Tsunamis and Mean Sea-level Changes,
by David Pugh and Philip Woodworth
Article in Contemporary Physics January 2015
DOI: 10.1080/00107514.2015.1005682

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Sea-Level Science: Understanding Tides, Surges, Tsunamis and Mean Sea-Level Changes,
David Pugh & Philip Woodworth,
Cambridge University Press, 407 pages, 55.00 (Hardback), ISBN: 9781107028197
monograph
level: graduate students and above
Manuel Vogel, TU Darmstadt and GSI Darmstadt, m.vogel@gsi.de

Sea-level phenomena such as tides are ubiquitous and their description as well as their explanation
have a long scientific history, featuring prominent names such as Johannes Kepler, Isaac Newton,
Edmond Halley, Daniel Bernoulli and Lord Kelvin. Recent events like the 2004 Sumatra tsunami and
the 2011 tsunami in Japan which led to the Fukushima catastrophe have been both covered by public
media and documented scientifically. The global warming discussion and the vastly diverging
predictions of its effects on the rise or fall of ocean levels have drawn further attention to sea-level
related topics. The present book 'Sea-Level Science' with its subtitle 'Understanding Tides, Surges,
Tsunamis and Mean Sea-Level Changes' takes up these and other topics and brings them to a
scientific discussion. In detail, there is an introductory chapter on the history of the topic and the
definition of its terms, and further chapters discuss sea-level measuring systems, tidal forces, tidal
analysis and prediction, tidal dynamics, shallow-water and coastal tides, storm surges, meteotsunamis (i.e. tsunamis caused by weather influences rather than by quakes), tsunamis themselves,
spatial variations in sea level, temporal sea-level changes (which includes a multitude of effects both
climatic and tectonic), sea-level applications such as power generation, and the relevance of sea level
for life. The text is very well written and presents both the phenomenology of the effects under
discussion as well as the scientific means for their measurement and modelling. The mathematics
involved is appropriate for a scientific discussion and thankfully not overdone. The text is richly
referenced to scientific publications within each chapter. The authors, David Pugh and Philip
Woodworth are both renowned scientists related to the University of Liverpool, and holding leading
positions in research programs within ocean science. David Pugh has previously authored 'Changing
Sea Levels: Effects of Tides, Weather and Climate' (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and 'Tides,
Surges and Mean Sea-Level' (John Wiley and Sons, 1987 and 1996). He also is an editor of 'Troubled
Waters: Ocean Science and Governance' (Cambridge University Press, 2010). The present book is a
monograph rather than a textbook, hence there are no problems and solutions. Particularly
noteworthy are the many high-quality colour figures and tables which illustrate the discussion nicely,
further motivate the reading and increase the understanding. This also owes to the high quality of
the paper, the print and the bookmaking, as well as to the rather wide format of the book. One
should maybe point out that this book does not cover wave physics, with the long-wavelength
exceptions of tides, surges and tsunamis. It is rather concerned with the phenomena on long
timescales from minutes or hours to geological scales. The level is appropriate for graduate students
and above with an interest in the fields of oceanography, geodesy and marine geology, but also in
the fields of marine engineering, marine biology and climatology. In particular the last chapter makes
it interesting also beyond that, as it discusses political dimensions of the topic. For everyone within
the intended readership this book deserves a clear recommendation.