Improvements in technology, including satellite monitoring, have given scientists the opportunity to work on questions of atmosphere and oceans at the global scale. In this collection of monographs, contributors describe climate variability in the Pacific, tropical Atlantic, and Indian Ocean, the elements of tropical-extratropical interaction, and conditions at the cross-basin level. They examine wind events, thermal differentiation, patterns of variability across oceans, shallow overturning circulation, storm tracks and jet streams, atmospheric response to changes in the temperature of the sea surface, and models of ocean-atmosphere interaction. Each general topic includes a broad review paper and several on specialized aspects of the topic. Papers include their own references, but there is no index. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)