A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine SciencePast Recipient, Dr. Gabriel T. Csanady(1991) |
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| Last Modified: 2009-09-18
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Dr.
Gabriel T. Csanady is recognized for his
fundamental contributions to the
understanding of circulation and mixing
on the continental shelf and in lakes.
His pioneering work in developing simple
models for coastal dynamics and exchange
processes has provided guidance and
inspiration for an entire generation of
oceanographers and limnologists. Dr.
Csanady began his professional career as
a mechanical engineer with specialties in
fluid flow and aeronautics. Later, as a
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at
the Universities of Windsor (1961-63) and
Waterloo (1963-73), he conducted
extensive research and modelling of the
Great Lakes circulation while at the same
time pursuing interests in the structure
and dynamics of the atmospheric boundary
layer. In 1973, Dr. Csanady was appointed
Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution where he
focused his attention on coastal dynamics
and mixing. In 1987, he received the
coveted Samuel L. and Fay M. Slover Chair
of Oceanography at Old Dominion
University, where he actively pursues his
varied interests in the physics of lakes,
oceans and the atmosphere, and in the
role of the ocean in climate change. Over
his long and productive career, Dr.
Csanady has made significant
contributions to several scientific
disciplines. In the field of coastal
dynamics, his simple circulation models,
such as the "arrested topographic
wave", have become modern classical
tools for the interpretation of both
field observations and numerical model
results. His treatise on turbulent
diffusion in the environment is a clear
and unified description of mixing
processes that provides a sound basis for
the investigation of important practical
issues, such as estimation of the
assimilative capacity of coastal waters
for pollutants. By combining theory with
careful field observations he has also
provided new insights into the structure
of the surface layer of the ocean and
into the exchanges of momentum and gas
across the air-sea interface. 