Ocean Studies explores the role of the ocean in the Earth system with special emphasis on the flow and transformations of water and energy into and out of the ocean, physical and chemical properties of ocean water, ocean circulation, marine life and habitats, interactions between the ocean and the other components of the Earth system, and the human/societal impacts on and response to those interactions. It provides the physical, chemical, geological, and biological foundations for understanding the world ocean.

This fourth edition is a major revision to Ocean Studies, with significant updates to content and imagery. New, expanded, or significantly revised topics include ocean thermal energy conversion, hydrothermal vent systems and communities, hot spot volcanism, ocean acidification and impacts on marine life, ocean deoxygenation, westward intensification of boundary currents, wind wave generation, tide-generating forces, natural coastal features and human alterations, rip currents, types of estuaries, atmospheric rivers, marine microbial ecosystems, bioaccumulation and biomagnification, harmful algal blooms, dead zones, coastal city flooding and other climate change ramifications, ocean life zones, marine invertebrates, ocean sediments and stratigraphy, oceanic Kelvin waves, El Niño and La Niña, the Madden-Julian Oscillation, the effect of climate change on the ocean, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography, ocean instrumentation including gliders and ocean observatories, toxic substances and the ocean, recent ocean and climate policies, geoengineering, and ocean mining.