The goal of this dissertation is to provide a semantic account for exceptional scope indefinites in terms of independence friendly reasoning. I take the view that an indefinite takes exceptional scope when its witness is required not to vary with the value of a variable introduced by a syntactically higher quantifier. This dissertation shows that a straightforward implementation of this view in a static logic results in a system that assigns truth conditions to sentences containing wide scope indefinites that are too strong. I show, surprisingly, that a better implementation of this intuition requires dynamic logic. While using a dynamic logic is a necessary ingredient in the analysis of wide scope indefinites in terms of independence, it is not a sufficient one. I survey a number of recent dynamic systems, examine possible definitions of maximization, and show that only some of these permit the proposed analysis of wide scope indefinites. I show that a system of dynamic plural logic (DPlL) with unselective maximization can be modified to fully account for wide scope indefinites in terms of independent witness choice.​

A data-constrained ocean circulation model is used to characterize the distribution of water masses and their ages in the global ocean. The model is constrained by the time-averaged temperature, salinity, and radiocarbon distributions in the ocean, as well as independent estimates of the mean sea surface height and sea surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The data-constrained model suggests that the interior ocean is ventilated primarily by water masses forming in the Southern Ocean. Southern Ocean waters, including those waters forming in the Antarctic and subantarctic regions, make up about 55% of the interior ocean volume and an even larger percentage of the deep-ocean volume. In the deep North Pacific, the ratio of Southern Ocean to North Atlantic waters is almost 3:1. Approximately 65% of interior ocean waters make first contact with the atmosphere in the Southern Ocean, further emphasizing the central role played by the Southern Ocean in the regulation of the earth’s climate. Results of the age analysis suggest that the mean ventilation age of deep waters is greater than 1000 yr throughout most of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, reaching a maximum of about 1400–1500 yr in the middepth North Pacific. The mean time for deep waters to be reexposed at the surface also reaches a maximum of about 1400–1500 yr in the deep North Pacific. Together these findings suggest that the deep North Pacific can be characterized as a “holding pen” of stagnant and recirculating waters.