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TREVOR
McDOUGALL (2005)
Dr.
Trevor J. McDougall, of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia, for his leading role in
developing a practical understanding of important thermodynamic and
dynamic processes in the ocean, which are a key to the determination of
the mixing motions that so strongly influence ocean circulation and heat
transport.
Dr.
McDougall is a Chief Research Scientist in the Division of Marine Research
and Leader of the Climate Research Group at CSIRO in Hobart, Australia. He
holds an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
Adelaide, a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics from
Cambridge University, and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the
Australian National University. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy
of Science, and recipient of the Frederick White Prize awarded by the
Australian Academy of Science, and the Banks Medal from the Royal Society
of Tasmania.
Dr.
McDougall has used a combination of physical insight and mathematical
formalism to elucidate fundamental effects associated with nonlinearities
in the relationship between sea water density and temperature, salinity
and pressure, and to bring order and rigour to the study of a range of
complex ocean processes that had defied previous efforts. His work has
covered ocean processes on spatial scales ranging from centimeters to
hundreds of kilometers. At the smallest scales, Dr. McDougall has used
laboratory experiments, theory and ocean observations to understand and
reveal the links between turbulence, "double diffusion", "cabbeling",
entrainment and subtle thermodynamic effects. On larger scales, he has
defined the "neutral density surfaces" along which energetic
mesoscale eddies mix in the ocean, and he has developed dynamically
consistent parameterizations to represent mesoscale mixing processes in
ocean models. Many aspects of his work have become basic building blocks
in state-of-the-art ocean general circulation models. His truly original
contributions are having major influences on ocean studies ranging from
the smallest-scale mixing processes to the understanding of global ocean
climate and its implications.
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