Friedrich A. Schott

Friedrich A. Schott (born April 9, 1939 in Kleve ; † April 30, 2008 in Kiel ) was a German oceanographer who most recently worked as emeritus at the Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences affiliated to Kiel University.

Career

Friedrich A. Schott studied oceanography in Kiel and then did his doctorate. After completing his doctorate, he first worked in the private sector for a few years before he joined the then Institute for Oceanography in Kiel - today GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research - as a research assistant , where he completed his habilitation in 1974. From 1978 he worked as a professor at the University of Miami for almost ten years before accepting the professorship in physical oceanography at Kiel University in 1987. He retired in 2004 and died on April 30, 2008 of complications from a serious illness.

Services

At the center of Schott's scientific work is a better understanding of ocean currents and their significance for the global climate . Through more than 30 expeditions with research vessels to the key regions of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans , he collected a lot of observation data and thus made an important contribution to better knowledge of the ocean circulation. Pioneering achievements such as research into the reaction of the Somali current to the changing monsoon winds cemented the international reputation of Kiel marine research. Schott also succeeded for the first time in solving a very old problem in oceanography, namely that of the unambiguous determination of the ocean circulation from hydrographic measurements. Schott also made a decisive contribution to elucidating the process of sinking cold water masses, which is essential for deep circulation in the Atlantic and the climate role of the Gulf Stream .

Works

Schott's scientific work comprises well over 100 publications in internationally renowned specialist journals.

Awards

Schott's research achievements have been recognized with various awards from leading scientific societies, such as the Fridtjof Nansen Medal from the European Geophysical Society and the Henry Stommel Research Award from the American Meteorological Society . He was also made a Fellow of the latter society as well as the American Geophysical Union , an honor that only a few scientists receive.

Awards:

• Fridtjof-Nansen Medal, European Geophysical Society (EGS), 1997
• Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU), 1997
• Excellence in Refereeing, AGU 2002
• Fellow, American Meteorological Society (AMS), 2004
• Henry Stommel Research Award , AMS, 2004
• Starr Lecturer, MIT 2005
• Prince Albert I Medal , Internat. Association for the Physical Sciences of the Ocean (IAPSO), 2005
• Excellence in Refereeing, AGU, 2007