Rivers provide the primary link between land and sea, annually discharging about 36 000 km3 of freshwater and more than 20 billion tonnes of solid and dissolved sediments to the global ocean.  Utilizing the world’s largest database – 1534 rivers that drain more than 85% of the landmass discharging into the global ocean – this book presents a detailed analysis and synthesis of the processes affecting the fluvial discharge of water, sediment, and dissolved solids to the coastal ocean. The ways in which climatic variation, episodic events, and anthropogenic activities – past, present, and future – affect the quantity and quality of river discharge are discussed in the final two chapters. The book contains 26 tables and more than 165 figures – most in full color – including global and regional maps. The book’s extensive appendix presents the 1534-river database as a series of 44 tables that provide quantitative data regarding the discharge of water, sediment and dissolved solids. The appendix’s 140 maps portray the morphologic, geologic, and climatic character of the watersheds. A complete GIS-based online database is available through a Cambridge University Press website.