As a book is the product of many experiences, it is also the product of people other than the authors. We extend many thanks to our friends and colleagues who have graciously answered our questions and provided us with information and access to their photo files. We owe very special thanks to faculty, staff, and students of the School of Oceanography and to students from the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science, both within the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington. They have answered numerous questions, shared data, and provided insights into how to convey concepts presented in this edition. We are also grateful to Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which has allowed us the privilege of providing their videotape series as an instructor ancillary to this ninth edition of the text.
We would particularly like to thank the following people who authored the Field Notes boxes in this edition:

Field Notes for the Ninth Edition

Virginia Armbrust, University of Washington
Eddie Bernard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Christopher Brown, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service
Francisco Chavez, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
David Clague, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
John Delaney, University of Washington
Marcia McNutt, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Ian Young, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Thanks are also extended to the reviewers who provided their thoughtful comments and suggestions for the ninth edition and all previous editions:

Reviewers for the Ninth Edition

Sean Chamberlin, Fullerton College
William Ellis, University of Maine
Michael Lane, University of Hawaii
Siddhartha Mitra, Binghamton University
Scott Rice-Snow, Ball State University
Greg Smith, Edison College

Reviewers for the Eighth Edition

Douglas Biggs, Texas A & M University
W. V. Bloechel, Cabrillo College
Hans G. Dam, University of Connecticut
Rich Dixon, Southwest Texas State University
Huan Feng, Montclair State University
Nancy Glass, Baldwin Wallace College
Hilairy Ellen Hartnett, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey
Karen Jager, Community College of Rhode Island
Frank J. Jochem, Florida International University
Stephen Macko, University of Virginia
Robert Stern, University of Texas - Dallas

We thank all members of the team at McGraw-Hill, without whose help, enthusiasm, and coordinated efforts this ninth edition could not have been completed.

Alyn C. Duxbury and Alison B. Duxbury

Finally, we would like to acknowledge the tremendous debt we owe to Alyn and Alison Duxbury who are responsible for having created the first edition of this text as well as its companion book Fundamentals of Oceanography, also published by McGraw-Hill.

Alyn Duxbury received a Bachelor of Science in Oceanography at the University of Washington in 1955. The University of Washington's undergraduate program in Oceanography was the first one in the United States, Alyn received the first Bachelor of Science in Oceanography degree awarded in the country. He also received a Master of Science degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of Washington.

Alyn and Alison met while Alison was a graduate student at the University of California—Berkeley where she received her Master of Science in Botany, specializing in marine algae. They were married in 1956.

In 1967, while Alyn was a research faculty member in the Department of Oceanography, Alyn and Alison worked together to conduct the first oceanography correspondence course in the country. In 1971, Alyn authored his first oceanography textbook, The Earth and Its Oceans, Addison-Wesley publishers. Alison then began teaching oceanography and biology at Seattle Community College. In 1984 Alyn and Alison teamed up to write the first edition of this book, An Introduction to the World's Oceans for Addison-Wesley. Addison-Wesley later dropped its line of "geology" textbooks, and the second edition of the book was published by William C. Brown publishers in 1989. New editions appeared roughly every three years. Alyn and Alison often had new material in the books before it had come out in scientific journals. The book first appeared in full color with the fourth edition in 1994.

The first change in authorship came with the sixth edition in 2000, when Alyn and Alison invited Keith Sverdrup to join them. Keith's primary responsibility was marine geology. Alyn, Alison, and Keith co-authored the sixth through eighth editions of the book. Following publication of the eighth edition of An Introduction to the World's Oceans Alyn and Alison retired from the textbook authorship business. With this, the ninth edition of the book, Keith has taken over Alyn's duties, and Ginger Armbrust has joined Keith to take over the marine biology chapters.

Over the years, tens of thousands of undergraduate students have been introduced to the science and wonder of the oceans by Alyn and Alison's teaching and their authorship of many editions of this book. Many of these students have gone on to major in oceanography and eventually enter rewarding and important careers in marine science and affiliated areas. We are very grateful to the Duxburys for giving us the opportunity to follow in their footsteps by continuing new editions of An Introduction to the World's Oceans.

A variety of tools within this textbook have been designed to assist with chapter review and critical analysis of chapter topics.