The Dance Of Air And Sea

Looks at the connections between the atmosphere, the oceans, and life all over the world, describing how these oscillations came to be recognized and the impact they have on the delicate balance of the Earth's biological populations.

How can the tiny plankton in the sea just off Western Europe be affected by changes 6000 km away on the other side of the North Atlantic Ocean? How can a slight rise in the temperature of the surface of the Pacific Ocean have a devastating impact on amphibian life in Costa Rica? Living populations across the globe are connected by great swayings of the world's atmosphere and oceans, the largest of which is El Nino. For almost half a century, the numbers of some of the smallest animals in the North Sea have gone up and down as the Gulf Stream has moved north and south 4000 miles away at the coast of the USA. This connection has happened because the weather patterns over the North Atlantic are intertwined by a phenomenon first described by a Danish missionary in the eighteenth century, the North Atlantic Oscillation. In The Dance of Air and Sea Arnold Taylor focuses on the large-scale dynamics of the world's climate, looking at how the atmosphere and oceans interact, and the ways in which ecosystems in water and on land respond to changes in weather. He tells stories of how discoveries were made, and the scientists who made them; and he considers the crucial issues of how the discoveries aid our response to global warming.

The Dance of the Sea is a tale of fisherfolk that live in an obscure coastal slum village situated in the southernmost tip of the Indian Subcontinent. It is the place where Sebastian becomes an engineer, rising up among the illiterate ruffian masses that have nerves of steel and a proclivity for ethnocentric violence. Sebastian deserts Gloria after their many trysts climax in a passionate lovemaking among the moonlit coconut grove where both lose their virginity. Gloria lives independently and becomes a rare and multi-faceted personality—a successful painter, an entrepreneur, and a social worker—riding well past Sebastian in fame and wealth. Torn between warring in-laws and his poverty-stricken sister Rebecca, Sebastian takes sides with the in-laws, leaving his sister in a financial predicament. She suffers from the overuse of loan usury to purchase a fishing trawler. Gloria supports Rebecca as much as she can in financial crises. Nature is unkind to them. The tsunami in 2004 wreaks devastating destruction, thousands of fisherfolk die like flies, and their properties return to the depths of the sea. The tsunami ends Gloria’s life as well. The rivalry between mechanised fishing and traditional vallam fishing escalates as arsonists set the fishing trawlers afire, including the one owned by Rebecca. Will Sebastian rescue his sister Rebecca from the aftermath of misfortunes? Will the karma of deserting Gloria haunt Sebastian forever? What is that secret which Gloria has kept undisclosed to Sebastian all along? What shapes the psyche of these Catholic fisherfolk, the faith in religion or sorcery? Reader will discover not only the answers, but also the dark tunnels of suspense and awe-inspiring unique lifestyles of humanity unknown to the rest of the world.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts—hailed by Publishers Weekly as “a storyteller of immeasurable diversity and talent”—presents the first book in a trilogy about friendship, fate, and the mysterious ways of the heart. When Nell Channing arrives on charming Three Sisters Island, she believes that she’s finally found refuge from her abusive husband—and from the terrifying life she fled so desperately eight months ago… But even in this quiet, peaceful place, Nell never feels entirely at ease. Careful to conceal her true identity, she takes a job as a cook at the local bookstore café—and begins to explore her feelings for the island sheriff, Zack Todd. But there is a part of herself she can never reveal to him, for she must continue to guard her secrets if she wants to keep the past at bay. One careless word, one misplaced confidence, and the new life she’s so carefully created could shatter completely. Just as Nell starts to wonder if she’ll ever be able to break free of her fear, she realizes that the island suffers under a terrible curse—one that can only be broken by the descendants of the Three Sisters, the witches who settled the island back in 1692. And now, with the help of two other strong, gifted women—and the nightmares of the past haunting her every step—she must find the power to save her home, her love, and herself. Don’t miss the other books in the Three Sisters Island Trilogy Heaven and Earth Face the Fire

This book examines the role music has played in the formation of the political and national identity of the Bahamas. Timothy Rommen analyzes Bahamian musical life as it has been influenced and shaped by the islands’ location between the United States and the rest of the Caribbean; tourism; and Bahamian colonial and postcolonial history. Focusing on popular music in the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, in particular rake-n-scrape and Junkanoo, Rommen finds a Bahamian music that has remained culturally rooted in the local even as it has undergone major transformations. Highlighting the ways entertainers have represented themselves to Bahamians and to tourists, Funky Nassau illustrates the shifting terrain that musicians navigated during the rapid growth of tourism and in the aftermath of independence.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.