Houghton Lecture - Arnold Gordon, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Arnold Gordon is a field-going physical oceanographer, an observationalist. His research is directed at the ocean's stratification, circulation and mixing and its role in Earth's climate system. He studies the transfer of heat and freshwater within the ocean and between the ocean, cryosphere and atmosphere. He views the ocean as a global system, with specific attention to interocean exchange and to ventilation of the deep ocean interior through sea-air-ice interaction. Comparison and extension of observational data with model results are an increasingly important part of his research. Historically much of his research deals with the Southern Ocean, but research within the warmer waters of the Indonesian Seas, tropical North Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans now compose most of my research program. Recently his focus is on the role of the ocean mesoscale in the transfer of heat and freshwater to compensate for net sea-air flux. He tends to go to areas that have been neglected by the research community, but have the potential of being key players in the global system.