In fluid dynamics,the baroclinity of a stratified fluid is a measure of how misaligned the gradient of pressure is from the gradient of density in a fluid. In meteorology a baroclinic flow is one in which the density depends on both temperature and pressure. A simpler case,barotropic flow,allows for density dependence only on pressure,so that the curl of the pressure-gradient force vanishes.
The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal is the highest award for atmospheric science of the American Meteorological Society. It is presented to individual scientists,who receive a medal. Named in honor of meteorology and oceanography pioneer Carl-Gustaf Rossby,who was also its second (1953) recipient.
Physical oceanography is the study of physical conditions and physical processes within the ocean,especially the motions and physical properties of ocean waters.
Internal waves are gravity waves that oscillate within a fluid medium,rather than on its surface. To exist,the fluid must be stratified:the density must change with depth/height due to changes,for example,in temperature and/or salinity. If the density changes over a small vertical distance,the waves propagate horizontally like surface waves,but do so at slower speeds as determined by the density difference of the fluid below and above the interface. If the density changes continuously,the waves can propagate vertically as well as horizontally through the fluid.
Jule Gregory Charney was an American meteorologist who played an important role in developing numerical weather prediction and increasing understanding of the general circulation of the atmosphere by devising a series of increasingly sophisticated mathematical models of the atmosphere. His work was the driving force behind many national and international weather initiatives and programs.
A pycnocline is the cline or layer where the density gradient is greatest within a body of water. An ocean current is generated by the forces such as breaking waves,temperature and salinity differences,wind,Coriolis effect,and tides caused by the gravitational pull of celestial bodies. In addition,the physical properties in a pycnocline driven by density gradients also affect the flows and vertical profiles in the ocean. These changes can be connected to the transport of heat,salt,and nutrients through the ocean,and the pycnocline diffusion controls upwelling.
Walter Heinrich Munk was an American physical oceanographer. He was one of the first scientists to bring statistical methods to the analysis of oceanographic data. Munk worked on a wide range of topics,including surface waves,geophysical implications of variations in the Earth's rotation,tides,internal waves,deep-ocean drilling into the sea floor,acoustical measurements of ocean properties,sea level rise,and climate change. His work won awards including the National Medal of Science,the Kyoto Prize,and induction to the French Legion of Honour.
Applied mechanics is the branch of science concerned with the motion of any substance that can be experienced or perceived by humans without the help of instruments. In short,when mechanics concepts surpass being theoretical and are applied and executed,general mechanics becomes applied mechanics. It is this stark difference that makes applied mechanics an essential understanding for practical everyday life. It has numerous applications in a wide variety of fields and disciplines,including but not limited to structural engineering,astronomy,oceanography,meteorology,hydraulics,mechanical engineering,aerospace engineering,nanotechnology,structural design,earthquake engineering,fluid dynamics,planetary sciences,and other life sciences. Connecting research between numerous disciplines,applied mechanics plays an important role in both science and engineering.
Sverdrup Gold Medal Award –is the American Meteorological Society's award granted to researchers who make outstanding contributions to the scientific knowledge of interactions between the oceans and the atmosphere.
Adrian Edmund Gill FRS was an Australian meteorologist and oceanographer best known for his textbook Atmosphere-Ocean Dynamics. Gill was born in Melbourne,Australia,and worked at Cambridge,serving as Senior Research Fellow from 1963 to 1984. His father was Edmund Gill,geologist,palaeontologist and curator at the National Museum of Victoria.
John Stewart Turner,FAA,FRS was an Australian geophysicist.
Owen Martin Phillips was a U.S. physical oceanographer and geophysicist who spent most of his career at the Johns Hopkins University.
Paul Frederick Linden is a mathematician specialising in fluid dynamics. He was the third G. I. Taylor Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the University of Cambridge,inaugural Blasker Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science and Engineering at the UC San Diego and a fellow of Downing College.
Theodore Gordon Shepherd is the Grantham Professor of Climate Science at the University of Reading.
Alan Judson Faller was an American meteorologist and oceanographer specializing in small oceanic and atmospheric circulation. He was the son of the Olympic runner Fred Faller.
Lorenz Magaard was a German-American mathematician and oceanographer. He made essential contributions to the theory of ocean waves and earned particular credit for organizing education and research.
Michael Ghil is an American and European mathematician and physicist,focusing on the climate sciences and their interdisciplinary aspects. He is a founder of theoretical climate dynamics,as well as of advanced data assimilation methodology. He has systematically applied dynamical systems theory to planetary-scale flows,both atmospheric and oceanic. Ghil has used these methods to proceed from simple flows with high temporal regularity and spatial symmetry to the observed flows,with their complex behavior in space and time. His studies of climate variability on many time scales have used a full hierarchy of models,from the simplest ‘toy’models all the way to atmospheric,oceanic and coupled general circulation models. Recently,Ghil has also worked on modeling and data analysis in population dynamics,macroeconomics,and the climate–economy–biosphere system.
Kerry Harrison Cook is an American climate scientist who is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on the analysis of climate variability and change in the tropics using observational analysis and high-resolution numerical modeling. Specialties include the climate of Africa and the dynamics of intense tropical rainfall. She was elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society in 2009 and was awarded the Joanne Simpson Tropical Meteorology Research Award in 2021. She is the Chair of the American Meteorological Society's Climate Variability and Change Committee.
Internal wave breaking is a process during which internal gravity waves attain a large amplitude compared to their length scale,become nonlinearly unstable and finally break. This process is accompanied by turbulent dissipation and mixing. As internal gravity waves carry energy and momentum from the environment of their inception,breaking and subsequent turbulent mixing affects the fluid characteristics in locations of breaking. Consequently,internal wave breaking influences even the large scale flows and composition in both the ocean and the atmosphere. In the atmosphere,momentum deposition by internal wave breaking plays a key role in atmospheric phenomena such as the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation and the Brewer-Dobson Circulation. In the deep ocean,mixing induced by internal wave breaking is an important driver of the meridional overturning circulation. On smaller scales,breaking-induced mixing is important for sediment transport and for nutrient supply to the photic zone. Most breaking of oceanic internal waves occurs in continental shelves,well below the ocean surface,which makes it a difficult phenomenon to observe.
Bruce Morton was an Australian/New Zealand applied mathematician.
