The Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem

The movement of oceanic water has important consequences for a variety of applications, such as climate change, biological productivity, sea-level change, weather forecasting, and many others. The Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem addresses the problem of inferring the state of the ocean circulation, understanding it dynamically, and even forecasting it through a quantitative combination of theory and observation. It focuses on so-called inverse methods and related methods of statistical inference. Both time-independent and time-dependent problems are considered, including Gauss-Markov estimation, sequential estimators and adjoint/Pontryagin principle methods. The Ocean Circulation Inverse Problem is intended for use as a graduate level text for students of oceanography and other related fields. It will also be of interest to working physical oceanographers.

Preface
Notation

1. Introduction
2. Physics of the ocean circulation
3. Basic machinery
4. The steady ocean circulation inverse problem
5. Additional useful methods
6. The time-dependent inverse problem

References