R. Chester - Böcker

The atmosphere is an important pathway for the transport of continentally-derived material to the oceans. In this respect the Mediterranean Sea is of special importance because its atmosphere receives inputs of anthropogenic aerosols from the north and desert- derived Saharan dusts from the south. The dusts, much of which is transported in the form of seasonal "pulses", have important effects on climate, marine chemistry and sedimentation in the Mediterranean Sea. This volume brings together reviews and specific-topic papers on the following aspects of Saharan dust transport to the Mediterranean Sea: the modelling of Saharan dust transport; the chemistry and mineralogy of the dusts and their effect on precipitation; the contribution of the dusts to marine sedimentation; the aerobiology of the dusts; and climatic implications of Saharan dust transport. The volume is aimed at students and researchers with an interest in the climate, biogeochemistry and geology of the Mediterranean Sea.

Those who have sought information on the extent of divorce in the modern world will know that the most accessible sources lie in international yearbooks, (1) and that from these it is possible to make certain broad comparisons of a historical or geographical kind. For anyone country, for instance, changes in the divorce rate can be traced, or comparative rates for any number of countries at any given time can be examined. Similarly, it is possible to discover differences and similarities in divorce trends on an international basis, either for individual nations or for region- al or cultural clusters. Typically, however, such sources cannot be used for detailed or sophisticated comparisons because of the limit- ed volume of data, and of the nature of the statistics presented. To detect detailed differences in divorce-propensity by time or place, for instance, ideally requires cohort data, information on the number of marriages dissolved by divorce within one, two---x years among every 1,000 or 10,000 of marriages contracted in a given year.Such data do not appear in the international statistical summaries, which often do not even use the next best kind of measure, namely divorces per 1,000 or 10,000 existing marriages. Often the figures given are those for divorces per thousand of tot a I population, and these are of little comparative value because of variations in popu- lation structure.