Gerold Siedler

Gerold Siedler (born August 16, 1933 in Olomouc ) is a German physical oceanographer. He was a professor at the University of Kiel and at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel .

Life

Gerold Siedler was born in Olomouc (Czech: Olomouc ), then Czechoslovakia. In the war years 1939–1945, he attended schools in Reichenberg (now Liberec ) and Prague , and after the war in Weimar , before the family reunited in 1946 in Plön , Schleswig-Holstein . There he finished school (see Gymnasium Schloss Plön ) in 1953 with the Abitur .

Scientific career

In 1953 Gerold Siedler began studying physics, mathematics and geophysics at the University of Kiel, and worked with his doctoral supervisor Werner Kroebel, and in 1960 he obtained his doctorate in physics. His dissertation in the field of acoustics allowed him to develop a vocoder that enabled him to break down human speech into its components according to frequency and amplitude. Under his mentor Günter Dietrich , Gerold Siedler then began his career as a physical oceanographer at the Institute for Oceanography (now GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel ), where he stayed until his retirement in 1998. He received his habilitation in oceanography and geophysics from the University of Kiel in 1966 for his work on circulation and stratification in Bab al-Mandab , Red Sea .

In 1969 he became professor for physical oceanography at the University of Kiel. During his time as a professor at the Institute for Oceanography and at the University of Kiel, he held the following positions:

Director of the Department of Marine Physics, 1969–1998
Director of the Institute for Oceanography, 1976–1978
Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, 1991–1992
Emeritus Professor, since 1998

His work contributed to broadening knowledge of ocean circulation and its significance for the climate, edge currents, ocean fronts, changes in currents, mixing processes and internal waves. In addition, he was actively involved in the development of oceanographic instruments.

Gerold Siedler undertook no fewer than 28 research expeditions, many of them as chief scientist. He spent a significant amount of time on the German research vessel RV Meteor II (1964) and helped design its successor, the RV Meteor III (1986). He played a fundamental role in the development of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) program, including the definition of oceanographic sampling standards that were critical to the success of the program. At the height of WOCE, he was the co-editor of the first edition of the book "Ocean Circulation and Climate: Observing and Modeling the Global Ocean", which was published in 2001, and the 2013 second edition, "Ocean Circulation and Climate: A 21st Century Perspective " followed.

For several years he worked as a visiting scholar abroad, most often at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (USA) and at the University of Hawaii (USA), also at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and at the IFREMER in Brest (France), at the University of Miami and NOAA / AOML (USA), at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (USA), at the Instituto Canario de Ciencias Marinas (Spain) and at the University of Cape Town .

Teaching

As a private lecturer and then as a professor at the University of Kiel, Gerold Siedler has taught since 1966. He was also a visiting professor at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution / Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) at the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste (Italy) at the university Hamburg , at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Gran Canaria, Spain), at the Universidad de La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain), and at the Universidad de Concepción (Chile). He supervised the scientific work of no fewer than 70 diploma, doctoral and post-doctoral students in Kiel.

Offices

Member of national advisory bodies

German Research Foundation :

Member of the Senate of the Commission for Water Research, 1968–1977
Member of the Senate of the Oceanography Commission, 1974–1995, Chairman 1986–1995
Member of the German State Committee of the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), 1975–1995; Chair, 1980-1995
Member of the coordination staff for the German meteorological research aircraft, 1978
Expert reviewer for physics (oceanography and physics in the atmosphere), 1980–1988

Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (now Federal Ministry of Education and Research ):

Member of the Committee on Research Vessels and Underwater Systems, 1969–1971
Member of the Committee for Measurement Technology and Apparatus Construction, 1970–1973
Member of the Committee for Monitoring Networks in the North and Baltic Seas, 1974–1995
Member of the Marine Research and Technology Committee, 1975–1978
Commissioner for German-Brazilian scientific and technological cooperation in the field of oceanography, 1983–1989
Chairman of the German WOCE Committee ( World Ocean Circulation Experiment ), 1986–1989

GKSS Research Center Geesthacht ( Helmholtz Center Geesthacht - Center for Materials and Coastal Research ).

Member of the technical and scientific advisory board, 1976–1981

Member of international advisory bodies and organizations

Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) of the International Council for Science (ICSU):
Member, Working Group 21 “Current meter intercomparison”, 1966–1974
Member, Working Group 34 "Internal dynamics of the ocean", 1976–1982
Chairman, Working Group 43 “Oceanography related to the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE)”, 1972–1978
Vice President, 1980–1983; President, 1983–1988; Past President, 1988–1992
International Association for the Physical Sciences of the Oceans (IAPSO) of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG): Vice-President, 1975–1979
Program National d'Etude de la Dynamique du Climat (PNEDC), France: Member, 1988–1992
Scientific Steering Group of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE): Member of the Executive, 1989–1993
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution , USA: Visiting Committee Member, 1992
European Commission, Brussels: Member of the Mid-Term Evaluation Panel of Marine Science and Technology Program II, 1995

Honors

Dedicated special edition "New Views of the Atlantic: A Tribute to Gerold Siedler", Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 1999.
Alexander von Humboldt - Research Prize 2004/2005, National Research Foundation, South Africa.