2010 Victor P. Starr Lecture

This year's Starr Lecture, "On the dynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current", was given by Prof. David Marshall from the University of Oxford, UK.

Professor Marshall reviewed some recent developments in our understanding of processes that set the equilibrium strength of the ACC and how it adjusts to changes in forcing. His lecture highlighted a disturbing conclusion that both the equilibrium ACC and its adjustment appear to depend critically on Southern Ocean eddies, occuring on small spatial scales (10s of km). Such eddies are only crudely represented in the ocean models currently used for climate prediction.

 

 

 

At the reception following the lecture, PAOC members enjoyed food and conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Marshall is a former student of Prof. John Marshall and spent 3 years as a post-doc in PAOC before returning to the UK where he established the Physical Oceanography Group at the University of Reading. David is currently co-director of Oxford's 21st Century Ocean Institute. You can read the abstract to David's talk here.