From Monsoons to Microbes: Understanding the Ocean’s Role in Human Health (1999)

Summary: This report offers a deeper look into the oceans that surround us, often nuturing yet sometimes harming humankind. This book explores the links among physical oceanography, public health, epidemiology, marine biology, and medicine in understanding what the ocean has to offer. It will help readers learn more about such important points as long-term phenomena and disastrous events, food and medical products from the ocean, how estuaries work, exposure to infectious agents through increased seafood consumption and oceanic travel, and “red tides.” The book recommends ways we can implement exciting new technologies to monitor the physics, chemistry, and biology of the ocean to recognize change as it happens. From the impact of worldwide atmospheric warming to the significance of exotic bacteria from submarine hydrothermal vents, the ocean has many depths left to explore.