Alien Seas – Oceans in Space by Michael Carroll, Rosaly Lopes (Editors); Springer, New York; $29.99 (hardcover); 2013.
Thanks to the editors for this captivating “wet look” at an under-appreciated aspect of planets and moons in our celestial neighborhood – those “seas in the sky.”
The book begins with an informative and fitting foreword by movie maker and ocean adventurer, James Cameron. Just as readers of this book most assuredly are, Cameron is also “struck by the enormity of what we don’t know.” Furthermore, he adds that robotic emissaries have brought us just enough tantalizing information to scientifically investigate and imagine alien seas.
As noted in the book, our Solar System is rife with water, albeit liquid brews that hold methane, ammonia, ethane and other vicious potions. The Saturn system itself is depicted as a literal “Disneyland of astronomical attractions for scientists.”
Lopes and Carroll have done a masterful job of melding chapters that feature contributions by themselves along with other leading scientists and planetary researchers.
From chasing the lost oceans of Venus to Titan’s methane and ethane lakes to reviewing the astrobiological implications of studying liquid water environments on Earth – this book is a treasure trove of information.
As a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientist, editor Lopes shares with the reader her own perspective and expertise on volcanism, including Earth’s “evil twin” – Venus and its lava seas.
This volume contains 105 illustrations, with 60 illustrations in color, including new artwork by the talented Michael Carroll that depicts alien seas as well as the latest ground-based and spacecraft images.
You’ll find a wonderful read here, organized by location and by the material of which various oceans consist, with the text punctuated by original diagrams that detail planetary oceans and related processes.
For more information on this book, go to:
http://www.springer.com/astronomy/extraterrestrial+physics,+space+sciences/book/978-1-4614-7472-2
By Leonard David