Vladimir Zeitlin graduated from Dnipropetrovsk University (Ukraine) in 1976, and gained his PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics in 1980 from the Physical Institute (Moscow). Trained as a theoretical physicist, he moved his focus to geophysical fluid dynamics in the early 1980s. He worked at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (Moscow) on vortex dynamics, wave-vortex interactions and turbulence. Later, after moving to France, Zeitlin joined the Laboratory of Dynamical Meteorology and then became Professor at the University P. and M. Curie (now Sorbonne University) and École Normale Supérieure (Paris).

For the dynamics of large and medium scale motions in the oceans and the atmosphere, a simplified rotating shallow water model, obtained by vertical averaging, is used throughout the book in order to explain the fundamentals, and to give in-depth treatment of important dynamical processes.

Geophysical fluid dynamics examines the dynamics of stratified and turbulent motion of fluids in the ocean and outer core, and of gases in the atmosphere. This book explains key notions and fundamental processes of the dynamics of large- and medium-scale atmospheric and oceanic motions from the unifying viewpoint of the rotating shallow water model. The model plays a distinguished role in geophysical fluid dynamics. It has been used for about a century for conceptual understanding of various phenomena, for elaboration of approaches and methods to be used later in more complete models, for development and testing of numerical codes, and for many other purposes. In spite of its simplicity, the model grasps essential features of the complete "primitive equations" models, being their vertically averaged version, and gives an intuitive representation and clear vision of principal dynamical processes.

This book is a combination of a course on geophysical fluid dynamics (Part 1), with explanations and illustrations of fundamentals, and problems, as well as a more advanced treatise of a range of principal dynamical phenomena (Part 2), including recently arisen approaches and applications (Part 3). Mathematics and physics underlying dynamical phenomena are explained, with necessary demonstrations. Yet, an important goal of the book is to develop the reader's physical intuition and qualitative insights.