12
BAMOS
Dec 2018
AMOS Awards 2018
Uwe Radok Award
The Uwe Radok Award is for the best PhD thesis in the AMOS
fields of oceanography, glaciology or climatology, awarded in
Australia. It honours the contributions of Dr Uwe Radok who was
one of Australia’s pioneers in meteorological and glaciological
research. He was Head of the Department of Meteorology at
the University of Melbourne from 1960 to 1977, and played
a leading role in the development of Australian Antarctic
meteorology and glaciology. The Uwe Radok Award for the
best PhD thesis of 2017 has been awarded to Dr Catherine A.
Vreugdenhil for her thesis entitled “The effects of convection in
geostrophic circulation: insights into ocean heat transport and
energy budget”, awarded by the Australian National University.
Dr Vreugdenhil’s research investigated rotating thermal
convection in the form of large-scale geostrophic circulation,
and the coupling of this circulation with deep convection. Her
research involved laboratory experiments with a rectangular
convection tank on a rotating platform, as well as computational
simulations in which the convection and turbulence were fully
resolved. She demonstrated that buoyancy-driven flow is very
efficient at transferring heat, implying that surface buoyancy
forcing is a primary contributor to the energy budget. Her
PhD research has been published in the Journal of Geophysical
Research and Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
Morton Medal
The Morton Medal recognises leadership in meteorology,
oceanography, climate and related fields, particularly through
education and the development of young scientists, and
through the building of research environments in Australia.
The Medal recognises the achievements of Bruce Rutherfurd
Morton who was a professor of applied mathematics at Monash
University from 1967 until his retirement in 1991. Bruce was a
true mentor to his students and young colleagues. The 2018
Morton Medal has been awarded to Professor Christian
Jakob. Professor Jakob is a profoundly important researcher,
teacher and mentor in AMOS related disciplines with an
impact in Australia and worldwide. Christian received his PhD
in meteorology from Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich,
Germany in 2001 after an already established career at ECMWF,
which commenced in 1993. From 2002–2007 he held research
scientist positions at the Bureau of Meteorology, and since 2007
has been Professor of Climate Modelling at Monash University.
His scientific interests centre on clouds, convection and the
water cycle, and how these processes are represented in weather
and climate models. He is a superb mentor to students and early
career scientists and is deeply concerned about their scientific
and personal development, and the wellbeing of students and
colleagues. Christian is a passionate and inspiring educator. At
Monash University, he has developed and delivered innovative
courses, while internationally he has organised important
graduate schools such as a Gordon Research Conference.
Awards