Professor Trevor McDougall
(FL150100090)
Current Organisation
Administering Organisation
Primary research field
Strategic Research Priority area
The University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales
Ocean Physics
Living in a changing environment
Image credit: The University
of New South Wales
Fellowship project summary:
Ocean mixing processes and innovation in oceanographic models
This fellowship project aims to develop new oceanographic tools and thermodynamic variables to support
a new generation of accurate ocean models more suitable for the prediction of changes in a warming
world. The ocean’s role in the climate system is predominantly to store and to transport heat and carbon
dioxide, and the ocean’s ability to do this is sensitive to the strength of mixing processes, which are quite
uncertain. This project hopes to distinguish the vital role of vertical mixing from that of horizontal mixing
by (i) developing algorithms to construct neutral density surfaces in climate models, (ii) formulating new
inverse techniques to deduce the amount of vertical mixing in various ocean regions, and (iii)
incorporating new approaches to ocean mixing processes and thermodynamics into ocean models.
About Professor McDougall
Professor McDougall is internationally recognised for his expertise in the field of ocean mixing and how
it is represented in climate models. His work on ocean physics is fundamental to understanding ocean
circulation and the way the heat is transferred between the ocean and the atmosphere in the climate
system.
Professor McDougall graduated with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from The University of
Adelaide in 1974 and obtained a doctorate in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical
Physics at the University of Cambridge. He returned to Australia on a Queen's Fellowship with The
Australian National University, moving to CSIRO in 1983. Professor McDougall is now Scientia
Professor of Ocean Physics in the Applied Mathematics department at The University of New South
Wales where he conducts research on the physical and thermodynamical aspects of mixing processes in
the ocean.
In 2011, Professor McDougall became the first Australian to win the Prince Albert I Medal, awarded by
the International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans. In 2012 he was awarded the title of
Scientia Professor, and was also elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of London for his leading work in
the thermodynamics of seawater. Professor McDougall was recently awarded the 2015 Jaeger Medal by
the Australian Academy of Science for outstanding investigation into the solid earth or its oceans.
Find out more about Professor McDougall and his research by visiting his profile page on The University
of New South Wales website.
For further information about this funding scheme please visit the Australian Laureate Fellowships
scheme page on the ARC website.